J 



I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

Chan .:_,_( 






-C.:. 



^ UN5TED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE NATIONAL BOOK 



ON 



THE SABBATH 



ILLUSTRATING ITS 



FOUR GRAND DESIGNS, AND PROVING 
ITS OBLIGATION: 



SHOWING THAT THE 

SEVENTH -DAY SABBATH IS ON THE FIRST DAY 
* OF THE WEEK, 



AND 



H TIME 



WHAT HOUR SABBATH-TIME SHOULD BEGIN 



-4 — ^ • ^ » 



PORTLAND: 
B AI LEY & NO YE S. 

1861. 







w 1 



/ 

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1860, 

BY E. B. FLETCHEE, 
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Maine. 



PORTLAND! B. THURSTON, PRINTER. 




THE SABBATH. 

Have you considered the unbounded interest con- 
nected with the Christian Sabbath ? The amount 
of time it demands from the world ? The incalcu- 
lable amount of talents devoted to the interests of 
this day ? The infinite amount of moral and relig- 
ious good supposed to be done by its observance ? 
And the great amount of guilt supposed to be ac- 
cumulated by its violations ? And the vast amount 
it costs the Christianized nations to sustain this 
institution ? For into its bill of expenses must be 
reckoned, not only the Sabbath time, but also the 
w T hole of the lives of the tens of thousands of Gos- 
pel ministers ; the time and expenses of their edu- 
cation and support ; the expenses of Sabbath schools 
and Bible classes ; the cost of sacred music ; to- 
gether with the millions of money expended in 
building places for public worship ; - — with a vast 
deal more of incidental expenses ! For if the Sab- 
bath was given up, and all days devoted to worldly 
interests, the ministers could not long collect con- 
gregations; and all the appendages of the Sabbath, 
and the institutions so closely connected with it, 
would soon cease to exist ; and meeting-houses be- 



4 THE SABBATH. 

come useless. And we should not only be saved 
from the great expense of sustaining the Gospel 
and its institutions, but we should also soon be freed 
from the vast expense of school education, for the 
great mass of the people, as education would soon 
be confined mostly to the few among the wealthy, 
who would control the common people to their lik- 
ing. For it is by the influence that the ministers 
of the Gospel exert over the people, through the 
advantages which the Sabbath gives them, that their 
exertions in support of education, in its variety of 
forms, is the principal agency in originating colleges 
and academies, and in sustaining them, and thereby 
producing an interest in education which places it 
within the reach of the multitude of the common 
people. Annihilate the Sabbath, and you destroy 
the influence of Gospel ministers. The ministers of 
the Gospel have never benefited the people, only 
in proportion as the Gospel Sabbath has existed 
and been respected. And they can never benefit a 
people who disregard Sabbath time. So that we 
have only to give up sacred time, and we shall soon 
be rid of this great burden of expense ; if a burden 
it be. If we could do as well without it, its abro- 
gation would put a vast amount of money into our 
pockets. And the same would be true, if we could 
dispense with our food and clothing, and other con- 
veniences. Have we reflected that, should we take 
it into our heads that the Sabbath is too expensive 



THE SABBATH. 5 

to be sustained, it would cost us a vast deal more to 
live without it ? As economists, it is our cheapest 
public institution. It pays its own bills, and leaves 
a very large profit to all the people. Even Sabbath 
neglectors derive great advantages from living in a 
nation having the seventh-day Sabbath, and residing 
in a Sabbath-keeping community. Are we sure we 
have given sufficient attention to this very important 
subject, to judge correctly of its connection with 
our temporal, and moral, and spiritual interests ? 

Should you ask the first tan persons you meet, 
"What are the designs of the Christian Sabbath ? 
or, in other words, What are- the reasons for its 
appointment ? the most of them might be ready 
with a scripture answer. But should you ask the 
•next ten, "What are the scripture proofs that we are 
now obligated to keep the Sabbath as sacred time ? 
will all of them, though intelligent persons, be able 
to give the Bible arguments in its support ? And 
if you ask the first twenty persons you meet to show 
you why we should observe Sunday as Sabbath 
time, and not Saturday, how many of them will be 
able to prove to you that we should keep as holy 
time one of these days in preference to the other ? 
And how large a proportion of the people can give 
satisfactory proof why we should begin Sabbath 
time at six o'clock, at sunset, or at midnight ? Or 
why we should not commence it at sunrise ? How 
large a proportion of young persons — even of Bible 



THE SABBATH. 



class scholars — are prepared to answer these ques- 
tions intelligibly ? — and thus to secure themselves 
against the practices and sophistries of anti-Sabbath 
influences j and against the many errors so often 
connected with this subject ? How many parents 
are prepared to give their children suitable instruc- 
tions on these important questions ? And how 
many Sabbath school superintendents, and Bible 
class teachers, can intelligibly instruct others on 
these points ? Children sent out into the world well 
instructed on these points, and deeply impressed 
with the sacredness and great value of the Sabbath 
institution, go out quite secure of a virtuous hie, 
compared with those whose education and practice 
on this subject has been neglected. Surely, an in- 
stitution that comes each seventh day, and is design- 
ed to occupy one-seventh part of human life, — and 
has connected with it the vastly important interests 
of the Lord's day, — and is kept at so great an ex- 
pense, — should be well understood ! 

And each one of the questions which we have 
suggested is of vital importance to a suitable ob- 
servance of sacred time, as we shall see. There is 
no institution which demands the amount of time, 
and is so closely and inseparably connected with so 
many important interests of society, as is the seventh 
day Sabbath. And hence if of divine appointment, 
and to be perpetuated, it must have some noble ends 
in view — great good must thereby be designed to 



THE SABBATH. 7 

mankind ! Consequently, we should have a familiar 
acquaintance with its designs, and with the eviden- 
ces in support of its obligation. Now let us go 
carefully over the arguments and the facts connect- 
ed with this interesting and important subject. 

WHAT ARE, THE DESIGNS OF THE SABBATH ? 

1. The seventh-day Sabbath is a commemorative 
institution. It is designed continually to remind us 
of the Divine Existence, as the Author of Creation, 
and of human redemption. That, as the living and 
true G-od, He is the height of authority — to whom 
we must give an account, as moral beings ; and that 
He only can save us, as sinners ; through means 
originated by Himself, and on conditions Himself 
must prescribe. All this is asserted, and implied, 
by the Sabbath, as a commemorative institution. 
Compare the following texts : " Remember the Sab- 
bath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou la- 
bor, and do all thy work : but the seventh day is 
the Sabbath of the Lord thy Grod ; in it thou shalt 
not do any work ; thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- 
ter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy 
cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates : 
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 
the sea, and all that in them is, and rested on the 
seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sab- 
bath day, and hallowed it." " Speak thou also to 
the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths 



8 THE SABBATH. 

ye shall keep ; for a sign between me and you 
throughout your generations ; that ye may know 
that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you." " It is a 
sign between me and the children of Israel forever ; 
for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, 
and on the seventh day He rested." " Moreover I 
gave them my Sabbaths, to be a sign between me 
and them, that they might know that I am the Lord 
that doth sanctify them." "Hallow my Sabbaths ; 
and they shall be a sign between me and you, that 
ye may know that I am the Lord your God." Ex. 
xx. 8, 11; ch. xxxi. 13, 17; Ezek. xx. 12, 20. The 
Israelites are here addressed as the church of that 
age. And what is said in these texts, is as appli- 
cable to the church now as it was then ; as the 
reasons assigned for the Sabbath being a sign be- 
tween God and His church, remain the same, viz., 
because He is their Creator and their Sanctifier, — 
their God. The Sabbath, then, as an institution, is 
designed to call to our minds the worship and the 
duties, as also the privileges, growing out of the sev- 
eral relations we hold to God — as the subjects of 
His creation, preservation, government, and redemp- 
tion ! Had all men kept the Sabbath in the spirit 
of it, no idolatrous nations could have existed — 
no idol worshipers, as the leading design of the 
Sabbath is to keep men in the spiritual worship of 
the true God. It is really a foundation precept — 
as the spiritual observance of the fourth command- 



THE SABBATH. 9 

ment secures the first three, and hence leads to a con- 
formity to the other six. Such is the great import- 
ance of the hallowed, the blessed, the sanctified, 
seventh-day sabbath of the Lord our God — as a 
sign between Him and His people ! And no indi- 
vidual, or people, can suitably observe this day, with 
these ends in view, without receiving great benefit 
in so doing. The vital importance of the Sabbath, 
as a commemorative institution, commends itself to 
good sense. 

2. The Sabbath is also designed to allot to us days 
of rest from manual labor, to privilege us with 
one-seventh portion of our time, in which the body 
may rest from its toils, and the mind from its busi- 
ness anxieties. And in its first appointment, it evi- 
dently looked forward to man's future needs. 

Before the fall of man, a blessing w T as on Sab- 
bath time. On each seventh day man was more 
privileged than on the other six. " God blessed the 
seventh day, and sanctified it." But we are not to 
suppose that God blessed the day itself, considered 
merely as time, as some suppose. Time has no ex- 
istence as a creature, thing, or substance. Time is 
the name given to the duration between two events. 
To sanctify, is to set apart from common to sacred 
use. To bless a portion of time for man's benefit, 
is to bestow a peculiar blessing, not on time itself, 
but on man, by his improving the day in agree- 
ment with the designs for which it was sanctified, 

1* 



10 THE SABBATH. 

And after man had sinned, and God had said to 
him, " Cursed is the ground for thy sake ; in sorrow 
shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life," — and 
human bodies had become mortal and diseased, the 
mental powers had become enfeebled, and men were 
surrounded with so many inducements to forget 
God, and the coming eternity, there were numerous 
additional reasons why each seventh day should be 
exempted from merely worldly concerns, and be de- 
voted to moral and spiritual interests. As a com- 
memorative institution, and as a day of rest, the 
Sabbath serves a variety of ends to which it would 
not have been necessary, had not man have fallen. 
It is now necessary to the 'health of tne body, and 
the vigor of the mind ; and also as a preventative 
against that worldliness which is so injurious to hu- 
man happiness. It is a subject of universal experi- 
ence, that all persons of work, or of business, need 
thus much rest time, and that the man who is 
merciful to his beasts, must allow them thus much 
time to rest. " The seventh day is the Sabbath of 
the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt do no work; 
thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy man-servant, thy 
maid-servant, thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is 
within thy gates." How the Bible particularizes on 
this subject ! And why should not we respect the 
Divine Authority, and be advised by Infinite Wis- 
dom ? And is not a refusal to have life's burdens 
made one-seventh part lighter, a great mistake ? 



THE SABBATH. 11 

To say nothing of the fact, that to devote hallowed 
time to working days' employments, for fear we shall 
not be provided for, if we keep the fourth com- 
mandment, evidences an entire want of confidence 
in the Divine care over us. For, to say we trust in 
God, while we violate his command to procure a 
living, is quite absurd. A scriptural observance of 
sacred time, is an acknowledgment of the superin- 
tending care of God over us and ours. This is one 
way in which God, our Creator and Preserver, has 
chosen that we should acknowledge Him as our 
Provider. Let the acknowledgment be made, and 
cheerfully made. And let it be done in a manner 
and spirit which will show that we feel the Sabbath 
to be a privilege. And we should not forget that 
all gains, obtained in any way contrary to the Di- 
vine will, are evils, not blessings. They will in some 
way, at some time, somewhere, work mischief to us. 
And what a reflection upon the character of God, 
to practically say, He will not so well provide for 
us, if we work only the six days, as He will if we 
do working days' business on his holy time ! Or 
that He cannot, or will not, make us as happy, if we 
obey His word, as we shall be if we set at defiance 
His authority, in the pursuit of worldly pleasures 
in sacred hours ! " Fear God, and keep His com- 
mandments." What men have gained by violation 
of scripture laws has often proved evils, even in this 
life, while apparent evils have often turned out to 



12 THE SABBATH. 

the benefit of those who have suffered loss, or in- 
convenience, in consequence of their respect for the 
word of God* And other things being right, it 
will always come out thus with us, in the final re- 
sult of life's doings. 

3. The Sabbath is also to be devoted to our mor- 
al, our religious, and our spiritual improvement. — 
This is implied in its commemorative character. 
For what purpose are we to call to mind, by this 
institution, the self-existent God, as our Creator and 
Sanctifier, but to remind us of the several relations 
we hold to Him, and of the necessity of having a 
character and conduct in agreement with these re- 
lations? The honor of G-od in our religious im- 
provement, is the great object of the Sabbath. — 
" Eemember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." It 
is " sanctified," set apart for holy purposes. " Ye 
shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctu- 
ary : I am the Lord." " Verily my Sabbaths ye 
shall keep, that ye may know that I am the Lord 
that doth sanctify you." As a day of rest, it is not 
designed merely to excuse us from " servile work." 
But it is to be connected with religious interests, a 
portion of time devoted to our moral condition. — 
Hence the fact, so often observed, that when persons 
only lounge the day away, they are not, either in 
body or in mind, so well prepared for business, or 
enjoyment, on Monday, as when the day is spent in 
the house of worship. The Sabbath blessing is on 



THE SABBATH. 13 

those who spend the day religiously. Exemption 
from labor is only its minor object. Idleness is a 
fruit of fallen nature, and implies disease in body 
and in mind ; and it degrades both. But a change 
from working days' employments to Sabbath servi- 
ces has been abundantly proved to be healthful to 
the body, invigorating to the mind, and conducive 
to cheerfulness. And also greatly beneficial to the 
moral condition of society, as well as highly advan- 
tageous to spiritual enjoyment. " Blessed is the 
man that doeth Jhis" (keepeth judgment and cloeth 
justice), " and the son of man that layeth hold on it ; 
that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and that 
keepeth his hands from doing evil." " If thou turn 
away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy 
pleasure in my holy day; and call the Sabbath a 
delight, the holy of the Lord, .honorable ; and shalt 
honor Him, not doing thine own ways, not finding 
thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words ; 
then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I 
will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the 
earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy 
father ; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." 
Isa. lvi. 2 ; ch. Iviii. 13, 14. What a blessing would 
have resulted to the Jews, as a nation, from a scrip- 
tural observance of Sabbath time ! God has de- 
signed that the Sabbath shall carry with it a great 
moral influence for good ; and that temporal bless- 
ings on societv shall follow these good influences. 



14 THE SABBATH. 

But we are to give the Sabbath an honorable place, 
and thus honor its Author ; to call it a delight ; 
with pleasure separate it from worldly conversation 
and worldly ends; devoting it to its high designs. 
And if with a free and cheerful heart, we interest 
ourselves in the day God lias made sacred, then 
shall we delight ourselves in the Lord — His servi- 
ces will be pleasurable, and His Sabbath will be 
equally beneficial to us, as to those of past ages. 
Why not ? The Sabbath is no less adapted to im- 
prove society, and secure blessings to its observers, 
than in past times. Neither is heaven less disposed 
to bless to our good the time He has hallowed for 
spiritual benefits and temporal prosperity. 

It is necessary to the understanding of this sub- 
ject, that we distinguish between the civil laws of 
the Jews, by which the fourth commandment was 
protected, and civil penalties inflicted for its viola- 
tions — and the moral law, by which the Sabbath 
observance is enjoined. A number of Sabbath reg- 
ulations were enjoined by the civil laws given to the 
Jews, such as the public safety then required, which 
are not obligatory on us. Many persons, not ob- 
serving this, have erroneously supposed that the 
fourth commandment passed away with the Jewish 
civil and ceremonial regulations. Or, if to be ob- 
served, it must be kept with a strictness that would 
make it burdensome to society. The Savior en- 
joins the middle ground, between a looseness of 



THE SABBATH. 



15 • 



doctrine in relation to its sacredness, and a strictness 
which made its observance include many things not 
necessary to the keeping of it as holy time. What- 
ever protection the fourth precept in the moral law 
may require from the civil authorities, by its con- 
nection with the morals of the people, and the good 
order and safety of society, is left to the discretion 
of civil governments, as is also the protection of the 
other portions of the moral law, for the safety of 
government and the happiness of its subjects. To 
be safe and happy, civil government must look after 
the morals of its subjects, by protecting them against 
those practices and vices which undermine and dis- 
turb the peace of society. 

In proportion as a scriptural attention to the Sab- 
bath prevails, will the Christian religion win its way, 
and society be improved. And as sacred time is 
neglected, as the Sabbath becomes a merely nomi- 
nal institution, will experimental and practical holi- 
ness decline, and errors will increase. We cannot 
afford to live without the Sabbath. This institution 
is not only necessary for the prevention of vice and 
the spiritual prosperity of the church, but it is among 
the most essential means for the extension of the 
Gospel salvation, and the accomplishment of the 
great ends proposed by the preaching of the word 
of God. Not only because a blessing will attend a 
sacred regard for holy time, but there is a natural 
connection between Sabbath keeping and the sue- 



16 THE SABBATH. 

cess of Gospel religion'. The feeling that we are 
on consecrated time, disposes the mind to religious 
instruction. Its services bring its observers into 
connection with the means of information calculated 
to enlighten the judgment, convince of sin, and to 
encourage faith in Christ. And the Sabbath inter- 
views promote Christian fellowship. How many- 
would hear the Gospel preached if there was no 
Sabbath ? But very few. But the highest state of 
good society would be secured to a people, by a 
uniform attention to sacred time, and its appropriate 
services. And its universal observance thus would 
soon effect the world's conversion from sin to holi- 
ness ! It is true that errorists, and professed infi- 
dels, take the advantage of Sabbath time to dis- 
seminate their bad doctrines. But it is also true 
that most of their leaders, and nearly all of their 
followers, are the fruits of Sabbath neglects and 
violations ; and are notorious for their looseness of 
principles in relation to the sacredness of Sabbath 
time. Hence it is that, as such persons become 
convinced of the divine obligation of the Sabbath? 
and its sanctity, and the guilt of neglecting its serv- 
ices, they forsake their old associates, and turn 
their attention to evangelical principles. 

No one of the commandments is more frequently 
violated than the fourth. And the church is as de- 
ficient on this as on either of the ten. If all the 
Christian church could be induced to keep holy time 



THE SABBATH. 17 

in agreement with its scripture rules, it would soon 
hold a position and exert an influence for good, it 
has not since the Apostles' time ; as the church has 
more wealth, and greater numbers, than in any past 
age. And such a Bible position on the Sabbath 
question, w T ould soon bring it where its faith, its 
holiness, and its zeal, would equal its numerical and 
financial ability. Such an example would soon 
greatly correct looseness of principle and practice 
outside of the church. It is with the Sabbath as 
with Christianity — it gains respect from others, and 
acquires influence, just in proportion as its advocates 
respect its sacredness, and are governed by its rules. 
A seventh portion of time, of the w T hole church, 
strictly and sacredly devoted to its spiritual im- 
provement, and the religious interests of those 
around them, not allowing the world to intrude, 
would soon correct many of its own faults, and give 
it a much more commanding influence in the world. 
Considering the success which attended the Gospel 
at its beginning, notwithstanding the great difficul- 
ties it encountered, what could now stand before 
the church, if its holiness equaled its numbers and 
its wealth ? "What could it not do, with the world 
open before it, and all nations looking towards the 
Gospel church for help to improve their religious 
condition, and to direct them safely to the eternal 
state ! 

Very few persons realize the numerous ways in 



18 THE SABBATH. 

which the present violations, and neglects, and un- 
suitable ways of keeping Sabbath time, affect the 
holiness and success of the church. These ener- 
vating influences are seen and felt everywhere ; in 
high places, and in low places ; among the rich, and 
among the poor ; in the church, and out of it ; in 
public houses, and in private dwellings ; upon the 
sea, and upon the land ; in cities, villages, and the 
country ; by persons in private life, and by persons 
in public life (shame on them) ; at the house of wor- 
ship, and along the roads ; by open, bold sinners, 
and by polite Sabbath negiectors ; and by persons 
in heathen lands — from Christian countries — who 
should have sufficient self-respect and regard for the 
religion and honor of their own country, to show 
due respect for the Christian Sabbath in the pres- 
ence of idolaters. Nor are all who are — professed- 
ly — ministers of the Gospel of Him who is " Lord 
of the Sabbath," correct in theory and in practice 
on this subject. This is a subject too closely con- 
nected with the honor of Qod, the character of the 
church, and the salvation of men from sin, for men 
of this class to be erroneous in theory, or unexem- 
plary in practice, to its detriment. 

If in this world there was no preparation to be 
made for the eternal state, considering the shortness 
of the present life, and the infinite duration of the 
future world, one day in seven is surely none too 
much to appropriate to a commemoration of that 



THE SABBATH. 19 

infinitely glorious condition ! But when we consid- 
er that this life is probationary, it seems a wonder 
that six-sevenths of our time should be working 
days, and only one-seventh devoted exclusively to 
moral and spiritual improvement ! It is probable 
that this is as little as we can do with, and be, and 
do, as God requires of us. And that, had more 
been given us, it would have been worse for us, as 
men in general would have less inclination to keep 
the greater number of Sabbaths, and by the neglect 
and improper use of more sacred time, indolence, 
dissipation, and vice, would have been increased. 
An institution, designed for the greater good, when 
abused to unjustifiable ends, must be productive of 
the greater evils to society, and procure the greater 
guilt to the offenders. And how much interest can 
a man feel in his own spiritual good, the moral im- 
provement of society, or the salvation of his fellow- 
men, who will not devote each seventh day, and his 
proportion of the means necessary to sustain the 
services, to these great ends ? And how much at- 
tention can a man have given to the religious, or 
even moral condition of his family, and to the eternal 
state to which they and himself are hastening, who 
does not feel that one day in seven is but a small 
portion of time to be devoted to so vast a concern ? 
And how much interest can a man have in the heav- 
enly state, and how well prepared to dwell in the 
home of the good, with the lovers of divine worship, 



20 THE SABBATH. 

can he be, who has not a taste for the heaven-ap- 
pointed type of the rest of those who " die in the 
Lord"? If time was our own, and the Sabbath 
subtracted one-seventh from our wwldly goods, we 
might well give this as a small thank-offering, to 
promote the Divine honor among men. But " will 
a man rob God ?" As God has arranged things, a 
neglect of sacred time and its services, is a want of 
honest dealing with Him. He claims it as His right 
that we devote one-seventh of our life exclusively 
to religious interests, as consecrated time, by way 
of acknowledging the several relations we hold to 
Him, as our God. And besides, a neglect to do so, 
not only shows a deficiency of gratitude to God, a 
want of confidence in His care over us, while we 
do right, as well as an unwillingness to acknowledge 
His claim on us, but also a want of the right kind 
of economy in our own affairs, a criminal indiffer- 
ence to the moral condition of society, a dangerous 
unconcern for our own safety, and that of the fami- 
lies to which we belong ; to say nothing of the re- 
proach upon the church, by its members who neg- 
lect, or loosely keep, consecrated time. 

But it is evident that a want of attention to the 
fourth commandment originates in a looseness of 
sentiment as to its designs and its obligation. And 
the great necessity that these points should be more 
fully before the people, and urged upon public at- 
tention, is fully apparent. The obligation of the 



THE SABBATH. 21 

Sabbath is rejected by not a few who claim to be- 
lieve the Bible ; while its designs are probably less 
understood, and its claim more loosely held, by those 
allowing its obligation, than either of the ten. This 
is owing to a number of causes. The Bible argu- 
ments are not before the public in so clear a manner 
as they should be in its defense. There is a division 
of opinion in relation to the day to be kept, wheth- 
er Saturday, or Sunday. The controversy on this 
point is increasing, while comparatively few persons 
are clear-headed on this question. And there is no 
w r ork published, showing with sufficient clearness 
why one of these days should be kept as Sabbath 
time, in preference to the other. It is a singular 
fact, that not one person in a hundred can give the 
arguments in defense of the first day of the week 
as sacred time ! And hence not a few are entang- 
led in arguments, which are mere sophistry, in sup- 
port of Saturday as Sabbath. And the public mind 
is greatly unsettled as to the hour at which Sab- 
bath time should begin ; whether with the evening, 
or with the morning. Add to. all this, the great 
number of nominal Christians who are skeptical in 
relation to the obligation of the Sabbath, and the 
irregular manner in which it is kept by thousands 
who profess to respect the day. As a natural con- 
sequence, this lack of information, difference of 
opinions, and inconsistency in practice, have confused 
the subject, produced a great amount of skepticism, 



22 THE SABBATH. 

and prepared the way for errorists to make prose- 
lytes — not only to anti-Sabbath doctrines, but to 
other anti-Christian principles and practices which 
are the natural results of these errors. 

That Sabbath time be suitably kept, it is neces- 
sary that the mass of the people have the means of 
correct information, that they may be in agreement 
on this subject. And the designs, the obligations, 
and the advantages of Sabbath time, should be con- 
tinually before the public — in arguments, exhorta- 
tions, and advice. The subject should be heard 
from every Gospel pulpit, and it should go out in 
books and pamphlets, w r hich should miike their an- 
gel visits to every house ; and their voice should be 
heard along the streets. They should be sent to 
make their appeals to the many thousands of non- 
attendants on divine worship, and to speak the word 
of exhortation and of warning to those in the haunts 
of wickedness — to light up the dark places of the 
earth ! And the heathen will be greatly benefited 
by a suitable illustration of the Christian Sabbath. 
Its grand design, noble purposes, and pleasant en- 
joyments commend it to the good sense of every 
person. 

Fairly convict the vilest sinner of the wick- 
edness of Sabbath breaking, and of the evils to 
which it is leading him — and the work of his re- 
form is more than half accomplished. And fully 
awaken the conscience of a fashionable pleasure 



THE SABBATH, 23 

seeker on the Lord's clay, to a sense of his unhappy 
influence over others, and the guilt he is thus accu- 
mulating to himself, and a great step is gained to- 
wards his conversion to God. Let the light shine ; 
send it out, that all may see it ! It has in it a re- 
deeming authority ; a power to save ; a blessing for 
all who obey it. 

4. The seventh-day Sabbath is also referred to as 
a type of heaven. And thus it continually reminds 
us of the home of the good ; that we live in " a 

► strange country," and should be " looking for a city 
that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is 
God." It continually admonishes us that we should 
" labor to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after 
the same example of unbelief." And nothing can be 
more suitable, as a type of, or help to, the saint's 
rest, than the holy Sabbath with its worship. And 
in no way can we more impressively exhibit our 
faith in and desire to inherit the " rest that remain- 
eth to the people of God," than by a strict and spir- 
itual observance of its appropriate type — the sev- 
enth-day rest after six days' work. " For they that 
say such things, declare plainly that they seek a 

country a better country, that is, a heavenly." 

The holy and happy rest of the people of God in 
eternity, is the subject of the fourth chapter of He- 
brews. The apostle shows the danger of failing to 

• obtain that rest, and speaks of the means by and 
through which we must obtain it. This chapter 



24 THE SABBATH. 

mentions four rests. The rest of heaven, in verse 
first, and from the eighth to the eleventh. This is 
the main subject discussed in the chapter. The rest 
from the guilt and danger of sin, mentioned in verse 
third. The rest of Canaan, to the Jews, mentioned 
in verses third, fifth, and eighth. And the seventh- 
day rest, mentioned and alluded to in verses fourth, 
and tenth. The four verses including the seventh 
and tenth are a parenthesis. Leaving out these, and 
reading the fourth, fifth, sixth, and eleventh verses 
together, it will be seen that the seventh-day rest, 
and the rest of Canaan, are alluded to as types of 
heaven, to the believer. And in verses seventh and 
tenth, inclusive, the apostle argues the danger of 
coming short of the rest in eternal life offered in the 
Gospel ; and refers to the failure of the unbelieving 
Jews to enter the promised rest of Canaan, as illus- 
trative of this danger. And in this parenthesis, of 
four verses, the inspired writer argues the existence 
of a rest to the righteous in the future state ; and 
refers to the seventh-day rest at the close of the 
creation, as a fitting type of it. Having called at- 
tention to the danger of delay, the apostle argues 
that, " If Jesus," that is Joshua, " had given them," 
the Israelites, " rest," that is, the only rest promised 
to the believing Jews, " then would he not afterward 
have spoken of another day, or time of rest. There 
remaineth, therefore, a rest to the people of God. 
For he that hath entered into his rest," or heaven, 



THE SABBATH. 25 

" hath ceased from his own works," or labors of this 
life, " as God did from his " works of the creation, 
on the seventh day. 

Among the important ends to be answered by the 
Sabbath, it serves as a lively type of heaven — the 
final rest — the home of the righteous — the eternal 
Sabbath of those who delight in the spiritual serv- 
ices of holy time here. How pleasant the associa- 
tions of sacred time ! The Sabbath should, as much 
as possible in our present condition, illustrate the 
heavenly rest ; by our works, our conversation, and 
our associate spiritual worship ; in a serious, but 
pleasant and joyful state of mind. The Sabbath 
should make us better and happier through the week. 
These are special seasons in which to become con- 
formed to the Divine image. And how interesting 
and refreshing to enjoy, once in seven days, a minia- 
ture heaven ! Imperfect though it is — yet there 
is a sameness in kind, and sufficient to increase our 
desires for the perfect rest. The Sabbath should 
never be felt to be a burden, but a day of pleasura- 
ble delight, as a preventative against the sorrows of 
the world, as well as a release from manual labors 
and the anxieties of business. The great end of 
the Gospel and its Sabbath is to restore the mind 
to the heavenly state — to holiness and cheerfulness ; 
and thereby to fellowship with God, and to happi- 
ness. 

And in this worldly world of worldly-mindedness, 

2 



26 THE SABBATH. 

full of worldly plans for worldly ends, where world- 
ly people have a strong worldly influence over 
worldly churches, and worldly-minded professors 
(oh, how w T orldly), those who " are not of this world" 
should avail themselves of this heaven-appointed 
day, for its heavenly benefits to "heavenly -minded" 
persons ; and its heavenly restraints over an anti- 
heavenly world ; and in view of the heavenly rest 
which it represents and points us to. And no indi- 
vidual, or church, can spiritually observe this spir- 
itual institution, in the use of its spiritual services, 
without becoming f spiritually-minded," and con- 
vincing the world of the spirituality of their religion 
by a convincing exhibition of "the fruits of the 
Spirit." And " we know that the law is spiritual," 
and that the fourth commandment is a part of that 
spiritual law, designed to give us " spiritual under- 
standing." And " Glod is a spirit, and they that 
worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth." 
And hence, that " whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, and yet offend in one point " — refuse to obey 
one of the commandments — " is guilty of all." He 
is guilty as a violator of the moral law, as a rule of 
life. The Sabbath, its designs and services, are 
spiritual, heavenly, and opposed to worldliness. 
Grand institution ! 

And the worshiping assemblies who "let the word 
of Christ dwell in them richly in all wisdom, teach- 
ing and admonishing one another in psalms, and 



THE SABBATH. 27 

hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in 
their hearts to the Lord," on the Lord's day — are 
lively representations of the worshiping millions in 
the eternal Sabbath. Both worship God in spirit 
and in truth, and both are influenced by holy love 
to God and to man. And when all are sufficiently 
spiritual to thus keep Sabbath time, the Lord's 
prayer will be answered. And the Sabbath is a 
mighty instrument in the hand of a spiritual church, 
for the accomplishment of this grand design of the 
Gospel! The Sabbath is the stage upon which 
stand the heralds of the cross, to proclaim the re- 
forming and life-giving Gospel of Christ to the 
world. Remove this stage, and they could not be 
heard. The Christian Sabbath collects, combines, 
and gives action and force to all the moral and re- 
ligious influences calculated to benefit society, and 
to save men from sin. Had the fourth command- 
ment been left out of the decalogue, the other nine 
would have had but little influence over society. 
In proportion as this one is kept, will the others be 
respected. The subjects which it commemorates 
necessarily lead to these results. The seventh-day 
Sabbath is the silver band which binds together this 
golden bundle of precepts. Thus much for the de- 
signs of the Sabbath. It is a commemorative insti- 
tution — a day of rest from manual labor and busi- 
ness anxieties — a portion of time consecrated for 
moral and spiritual improvement — and also design- 



28 THE SABBATH. 

ed and calculated to continually remind us of the 
eternal rest, with God our Savior, angels, and the 
spirits of just men made perfect. " Blessed are they 
that do His commandments." 

SHOULD THE SABBATH BE PERPETUATED ? 

1. If the Bible had not directly commanded the 
Sabbath, yet it would now be obligatory on us by 
the rules of the moral law — love to G-od, and love 
to man ; it being now established, and its necessity 
clearly seen. Experience has demonstrated that 
both man and beast need one day in each seven as 
rest time from labors. And it is also fully eviden- 
ced that the moral and religious welfare of man re- 
quires as much time as this to be devoted exclusively 
to these purposes, and that the Sabbath and its 
services are connected with the best interests of 
society in general. Both church and state are great- 
ly benefited by its reforming and Christian influen- 
ces. Thousands are found in all ranks of society, 
who are better qualified for their places by their at- 
tention to the Sabbath and its worship, if we except 
the dregs of society, who place themselves beyond 
Sabbath influences. Think of the millions the Sab- 
bath has reclaimed from error, profligacy, and vice ! 
And the vast numbers it has been the means of 
making praying and holy men ! And who can cal- 
culate the amount of its restraint upon the passions 
and worldliness of mankind ? If the Sabbath was 



THE SABBATH. 29 

given up, the Christian nations would soon be ru- 
ined. If sacred time was dispensed with, the peo- 
ple would substitute other days for relaxation from 
labor and business, which would soon be devoted to 
dissipation, and serve to degrade, instead of im- 
proving society. Besides, it is the sacredness of 
the day, that, in q, great degree, gives it a moral in- 
fluence, as the Lord designed it should. Had the 
fourth commandment be§n left out, the Sabbath 
would now be obligatory on us, from the relation it 
holds to society, to the best interests of families, and 
of individuals. That is, with our present experi- 
ence of the necessity and advantages of Sabbath 
time, it would be our duty to consecrate a similar 
portion of time to the same ends. And this being 
true, it is not at all probable that the Great Head 
of the church would, or did, at the end of Judaism, 
repeal an institution so essential to the success of 
Christianity. The moral law enjoins love to God 
and love to man ; both of which are greatly pro- 
moted by the Sabbath. Therefore, the moral law, 
as a whole, requires of us that we sustain the sev- 
enth-day Sabbath. Nor can any other institution 
answer as its substitute. Hence it must be perpet- 
uated. But if the Bible does directly command the 
observance of the Sabbath — as holy time — it is 
no small offense to violate its law of consecration ! 
This is plain, if we consider the highly important 
reasons assigned for its appointment and its contin- 



30 THE SABBATH. 

uance — as stated in the preceding pages — and the 
vast power of the Sabbath for good ! 

2. The seventh-day Sabbath was appointed at 
the creation. "Thus the heavens and the earth 
were finished, and all the host of them. And on 
the seventh day God ended His work which He had 
made ; and He rested on the seventh day from all 
His work which he had made. And God blessed 
the seventh day, and sanctified it : because that in 
it He had rested from all His work which God cre- 
ated and made. 7 ' Gen. ii. 1-3. Here is the sev- 
enth-day rest — the Sabbath after six working days 
— the day blessed and sanctified — the rest-day 
commemorative of the creation. 

The fact that the Sabbath is not again mention- 
ed for nearly twenty-five hundred years after this, 
does not affect the argument in support of its per- 
petuity. The Bible gives us a mere sketch of the 
history of this period ; and there might have been 
much said on this subject, as on others, which is not 
recorded. There are many subjects not mentioned, 
and others merely named, or referred to, a knowl- 
edge of which might be quite interesting to us. But 
a very small portion of the teaching and doings of 
those times is written. Our duties are mentioned 
farther along. But we are told that, as the next 
mention of the Sabbath is at the exodus of the Is- 
raelites out of Egypt, it was only a Jewish institu- 
tion ; and that then was its first actual enactment. 



THE SABBATH. 31 

It is said that the sanctification of the seventh day, 
mentioned in Gen. ii. 1-3, was proleptical; that is, 
a mention of the Sabbath a long time before its ap- 
pointment. But it is just as true that " God bless- 
ed the seventh day, and sanctified it," and " rested 
on the seventh day " — at that time — as it is that 
" in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the 
sea, and all that in them is." And besides, such a 
paraphrase of this text is too loose to make good 
sense. It makes Moses say, God blessed and sanc- 
tified the day after the creation, because, twenty-five 
hundred years after this, He designed to set apart 
as holy time each seventh day, that one nation only 
might thus celebrate the living God as their Crea- 
tor ; and that it might be a sign between Him and 
that one nation only, that He was their Creator and 
their ^Sanctifier ! Is not this sufficiently absurd ? 
"Why not all men thus acknowledge their relations 
to God, from the beginning ? And why not now 
thus celebrate the Divine Existence as our Creator 
and Sanctifier ? And w 7 hy one nation thus keep so 
important an institution, in w 7 hich all are equally 
concerned, and all others be exempted from this 
dut} r , and excluded from its advantages ? "Is He 
the God of the Jews only ? is He not also of the 
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also." To the 
Bible and its Sabbath, all have an equal right. 

3. The existence of the Sabbath before the Jews 
left Egypt, as well as its continued obligation, is 



32 THE SABBATH. 

proved by the fact, that, when it is again mentioned, 
it is introduced as an institution previously appoint- 
ed, and still to be continued. Its second mention 
is in Exodus, sixteenth chapter, in connection with 
the first giving of the manna. And here it is men- 
tioned incidentally, attention being called to it by 
the people now having gathered manna on the sixth 
day, to be eaten on the seventh. Moses had re-» 
quired of them to gather only a certain allowance 
to each person for the working days, but twice as 
much on the sixth day, as a preparation for the 
Sabbath. Let us read, and see if the Sabbath was 
then introduced as a new thing. " The Lord said 
unto Moses, Behold I will rain bread from heaven 
for you ; and the people shall go out and gather a 
certain rate every day, that I may prove them, 
whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it 
shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall 
prepare that which they bring in ; and it shall be 
twice as much as they gather daily." And Moses 
said to them, " Let no man leave of it till morning. 
Notwithstanding, they hearkened not unto Moses ; 
but some of them left it until the morning, and it 
bred worms, and did stink." " And it came to pass 
that on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much 
bread, two omers for one man : and all the rulers of 
the congregation came and told Moses." That is , 
they informed Moses that the people had done, on 
the sixth day, as he directed. They probably wish- 



THE SABBATH. 33 

ed directions how ftie manna could be preserved for 
use on the Sabbath, All the rulers came, that each 
might inform his own people. And in giving his 
directions, Moses refers to the Sabbath as a well 
known institution. He said, " This is that which 
the Lord hath said, To-morrow is the rest of the 
holy Sabbath unto the Lord ; bake that which ye 
will bake to-day, and seethe that ye will seethe ; and 
that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be 
kept until the morning. And they laid it up till 
morning, as Moses bade ; and it did not stink, neith- 
er was there any worm therein. And Moses said, 
Eat that to-day ; for to-day is the Sabbath unto the 
Lord : to-day ye shall not find it in the field. Six 
days ye shall gather it ; but on the seventh day, 
which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none." 
Here is no intimation of a newly appointed institu- 
tion, but only a reference to one previously existing. 
Had this been the first Sabbath — *an institution re- 
quiring one-seventh of the time of all the people — 
and of such vast importance to society as is this 
ordinance, it would now have been mentioned as a 
new appointment, and its designs have been stated. 
But no intimation being given on these points, proves 
it to have been an old institution ; the nature and 
objects of which the people well understood. And 
if it was only predicted at the creation, to be com- 
menced at the exodus of the Jews out of Egypt, 

this important fact would not have been passed by 

2* 



34: THE SABBATH. 

unnoticed by Moses ! It is very plain that the Sab- 
bath was not then new to the Jews. 

4. But the continued obligation of the Sabbath, 
from Adam to Moses, is fully established by the 
fact, that, in a few weeks after its recognition, as 

just mentioned, it was introduced and identified as 
the same institution as the one appointed at the 
creation. Compare Gen. ii. 1-3, with Ex. xx. 10-11. 
The Sabbath of both these texts is the seventh day, 
after six days' work ; in both, a day for rest ; in 
both, a day blessed and sanctified, or hallowed ; in 
both, sanctified for the same reason — because the 
Lord " rested on the seventh day," after creating 
all things in six days. How clear it is that these 
are one and the same Sabbath, and that the Sab- 
bath mentioned in these two scriptures is identical 
with the one mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of 
Exodus. But if all this could be proved incorrect, 
the obligation of* the Sabbath upon us would not 
be lessened ; as, 

5. The seventh-day Sabbath was proclaimed from 
Sinai, as a part, and as we have seen, an essential 
part, of the moral law — which is to us a rule of 
life — not to be repealed, either in whole or in part. 
The laws which constituted the government of the 
Jews were in three divisions : — their ceremonial 
laws, their civil laws, and the moral law, or ten com- 
mandments. These united, formed their system of 
government. All the ceremonials of types and shad- 



THE SABBATH. 35 

ows necessarily ended when Christ finished His 
" one sacrifice for sins," He being their great anti- 
type. But not so with the moral law. This differs 
from merely the Jewish laws, in its nature, the time 
of its origin, its duration, the number of its subjects, 
and the circumstances attending its formal present- 
ation to the Jews, as the rule of moral conduct for 
all men. The moral law is only an embodiment, in 
a brief form, of what had been obligatory on man 
from the beginning. The decalogue teaches, in ten 
precepts comprehensively expressed, the sum of the 
moral character God requires of us ; and to distin- 
guish it from all other laws, and to impress the peo- 
ple with its sacredness, its importance, and its fear- 
ful authority, they were required to devote two 
days to a preparation for its reception — the moun- 
tain from which the solemn presentation was to be 
made was sanctified to this use, and so holy that 
whosoever — whether beast or man — that touched 
it, was to be put to death. And the mount " burn- 
ed with fire." And upon it was " blackness, and 
darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, 
and the voice of words ; which voice they that heard 
entreated that the words should not be spoken to 
them any more. And so terrible was the sight, that 
Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake." There 
was a solemn and awful manifestation of the living 
God, which sufficiently distinguished Him from false 
gods. And with " a great voice " Himself pro- 



36 THE SABBATH. 

nounced the moral law, in ten sections, and wrote 
them on two tables of stone, and delivered them to 
Moses, who deposited them in the Ark, in " the 
holiest of all," in the Temple. " And it came to 
pass on the third day in the morning, that there 
were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud 
upon the mount, and the voice of a trumpet exceed- 
ing loud ; so that all the people that was in the 
camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the peo- 
ple out of the camp to meet God ; and they stood 
at the nether part of the mount. And Mount Sinai 
was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord de- 
scended upon it in fire : and the smoke thereof as- 
cended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole 
mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the 
trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and loud- 
er, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice. 
Ex. xix. Moses says of the ten commandments, 
" These words the Lord spake unto all the assem- 
bly in the mount, out of the midst of the fire, of 
the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great 
voice, and He added no more : and He wrote them 
in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me." 
Deut. v. 22. And these tables of the law were de- 
posited in the Ark, with the " golden pot that had 
manna, and Aaron's rod that budded." Heb. ix. 
Thus is the moral law distinguished from all cere- 
monial and civil law. And the Sabbath is a part of 
the moral law, thus distinguished; and it is of the 



THE SABBATH. 37 

same authority as any other portion of this law ! 

6. The New Testament teaches that the types 
and shadows of past dispensations did pass away 
when Christ, " through the eternal Spirit, offered 
Himself without spot to God, to be a propitiation 
through faith in His blood, that He might be just, 
and the justifier of Him that believeth in Jesus." 
But both Christ and His apostles are very careful 
to protect each of the ten commandments, by teach- 
ing that the moral law is not repealed — neither 
any one of its precepts — neither superseded by 
any Gospel enactment or provision. Hear them : 
" Think not that I am come to destroy the law or 
the prophets ; I came not to destroy, but to fulfill. 
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth 
pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from 
the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore 
shall break one of these least commandments, and 
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the 
kingdom of heaven." " If thou wilt "enter into life, 
keep the commandments.' 7 " Do we then make void 
the law through faith ? God forbid : yea, we es- 
tablish the law." " For whosoever shall keep the 
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty 
of all." He who keeps the ten commandments, ex- 
cepting one, and disregards that point, or one, is 
guilty of violating the moral law T , as a rule of con- 
duct. So it is explained in James ii. 10, 11. 

The moral law rests upon the principle of love to 



38 THE SABBATH. 

God and love to man. "Thou shalt love the Lord 
thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as 
thyself." " Love is the fulfilling of the law." Prac- 
tical, affectionate, and sympathetic love. The ten 
sections of the decalogue are only ten modes which 
God has revealed to us by w T hich this law is fulfilled. 
And they are stated in a comprehensive, though 
brief, and yet clear manner. By each of these God 
is highly honored, and man is greatly benefited. — 
And hence he who intentionally .violates either of 
the ten, strikes a blow at the foundation principle 
of the divine government, injures his neighbor, and 
forfeits his right to the benefits and protection of 
the government he thus disregards and assails. The 
nature of the moral law implies its continuance while 
the world shall stand; and the four-fold designs 
of the fourth commandment, and its absolute ne- 
cessity to the protection and support of the other 
nine, make it as essential to the divine govern- 
ment as either of them in our present condition. 
Hence when the Lord himself gave to the Jews 
their civil laws, He protected the fourth command- 
ment by as severe a civil penalty as He did the oth- 
ers; while the entire want of any evidence of its 
repeal, and the clear statements of the Bible in sup- 
port of the whole ten — given for all men, of all 
ages — demonstrate that the Sabbath is of the same 
authority it was when it was proclaimed from Sinai ! 
7. How can any one who admits the authority of 



THE SABBATH. 39 

the Bible, reject the fourth section of the decalogue ? 
How many commandments are there ? Nine. Do 
you say, Nine ? Who has repealed one of them ? 
Surely not He who " wrote upon the tables of 
stone the 'ten commandments " ! And if we may 
lessen their numbers to nine, whv not five ? or re- 
peal the w T hole? Such is the importance of the 
whole ten, and such their connection with each oth- 
er, and with the best interests of society, and such 
the solemn and impressive circumstances under 
w r hich they were formally delivered, by Deity him- 
self, that had either of them been abrogated, this 
important fact would have been made as evident as 
noonday ! How many commandments in the deca- 
logue ? Answer — Ten. 

8. In a prophetic account of the success of the 
Gospel in the last dispensation of the world, and 
the ruin that will overtake its enemies, Isaiah in- 
forms us that the Sabbath will exist in those days. 
" And it shall come to pass that from one new moon 
to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall 
all flesh come to worship before me, saiththe Lord." 
Isa. lxvi. 23. As the Gospel wins its way over the 
hearts of men, will the Sabbath be respected and 
its worship loved. As men are converted from sin, 
they leave off Sabbath-breaking ; and as they ad- 
vance in holiness, they delight in Sabbath worship. 
As communities advance in virtue and piety, the 
value of the Sabbath is more clearly seen and its 



40 THE SABBATH. 

importance felt ; and as a people increase in attach- 
ment to and their spiritual observance of the Sab- 
bath, they will " delight themselves in the Lord," 
as He has promised they shall. Indeed, we cannot 
see how the Lord could withhold from us so great 
a necessity as that of hallowed time, unless He 
should do it by way of judgment, as he once did to 
the Jews. 

9. So long as the same reasons exist for which a 
divine institution is first appointed, the institution 
itself will, of course, be continued. And especially 
are we to suppose it continued until abrogated — 
either by declaration or of necessity. But the same 
leading and important reasons now exist for the 
continuance of the Sabbath as existed before Christ, 
with additional reasons, as we shall show when we 
come to speak of the day to be kept. And so must 
these reasons continue while time shall last. 

As a commemorative institution, it is certainly as 
suitable and as necessary as at the first. We sus- 
tain the same relations to God, and these relations 
obligate us to the same duties. And it is as neces- 
sary that we should be reminded of these relations 
and duties by a weekly monumental institution, as 
it was in the first ages of the world. This cannot 
be denied. 

And as a rest day from manual labors and mental 
anxieties, it is not only as necessary, but increas- 
ingly so. As the human family multiplies, diseases 



THE SABBATH. 41 

are more numerous, it costs more to live, business 
anxieties increase, and the world presses harder 
upon the mass of mind ; while new plans open for 
worldly speculations, and there are increasing in- 
ducements to neglect health, and intellectual enjoy- 
ments in healthful subjects and objects, and increas- 
ing temptations to overlook the great business of 
life, — - the service of God, and a preparation for eter- 
nity. All these create an increasing necessity for 
the rest of consecrated time, with its restraints and 
its helps, for the security of its noble objects. Nev- 
er was there a louder call than now for the weekly 
release from the drive and hurry of worldly busi- 
ness. "Were it not for the Sabbath-day check upon 
worldly minds, and its release to laboring and busi" 
ness men, millions of bodies, and of minds, too, would 
break down under the pressure of the world. What 
a blessed release does the holy Sabbath offer to hard 
laboring men and to anxious business persons ! 

And as a religious institution we cannot, if we 
are right, wish to lose the delightful privilege of 
spending each seventh day in divine worship, undis- 
turbed by the noise and confusion of worldly busi- 
ness, in the acquirement of religious knowledge, 
and in the use of the means of grace conducive to 
holiness. And no one will deny that this is as much 
a privilege, and as necessary as when the "Sabbath 
was made the fourth commandment. As people 
multiply, and errors, vices, and temptations increase, 



42 THE SABBATH. 

the necessity of the Sabbath is increased. And it 
is not at all probable that, while no other institution 
is appointed in its stead, the Sabbath law has been 
or will be repealed. Such a supposition is absurd ! 
And a great advantage of Sabbath time is, that it 
is not merely a release from labors — leaving the 
eyes, ears, and hands unemployed, and as a conse- 
quence, the mind to feel the more sensibly the anx- 
ieties and uncertainties of business interests, and 
the burden of borrowed troubles — but the Sab- 
bath services engage the intellectual and moral pow- 
ers in interesting and ennobling subjects ; such as 
occupy the minds of angels, of Christ, and of the 
infinite God ! Thus our minds are released from 
the pressure of the world, rested, strengthened, and 
improved. This is one of heaven's most gracious 
methods of improving the human mind. 

And as the great antitype of the glorious and 
eternal rest, it should be continued. It is certainly 
as needful as ever that we should be reminded of 
the home of the good, by the holy rest-day and its 
worship, so admirably adapted to this great end. 
And also of the necessity of being prepared for 
that state of rest where none but the holy dwell. 
" Blessed are the dead which die in the- Lord from 
henceforth ; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest 
from their labors, and their works do follow them." 

10. Christ, who "is Lord of the Sabbath," said, 
" The Sabbath is made for man " — the human fam- 



THE SABBATH. 43 

ily ; and not for any particular nation, people, or 
period of time. And this is evident from its adapt- 
tation to all nations and places, the necessity of such 
an institution for all people, and the reasons for its 
appointment, as well as the fact that it is a part of 
the moral law. When Christ said, " The Sabbath 
was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," 
He evidently used the term man to signify the hu- 
man family. He w r as teaching that the rules of 
Sabbath-keeping were not to be so understood as 
to destroy or injure man, but so as to make the day 
a blessing to its observers. The Sabbath was not 
made for a man, or for the men, but for man\ the 
human race. "When the Savior spake these words, 
He stood between the two dispensations, looking 
out upon both ; and he spoke in view of the benefits 
of the Sabbath to men in general. Or rather, stand- 
ing on the last end of the receding dispensation, He 
was giving instructions for the future conduct of 
the people. The Sabbath belongs to Jews and to 
Gentiles — to man. 

11. Had Christ, or His apostles, taught that the 
seventh-day Sabbath ended with the beginning of 
the Gospel dispensation, it would have caused no 
little controversy between the Jews and the Chris- 
tians, of which we could not have failed to have had 
some account, not only in the New Testament, but 
also in other writings. The Jews were very tena- 
cious of their Sabbath. There is no doctrine they 



44 THE SABBATH. 

would have more violently opposed than the repeal 
of the fourth commandment by the Christians. The 
fact that we have not even an allusion to any con- 
troversy on this subject, either in the sacred writers 
or in other authors, is full proof that neither Christ 
or His apostles ever taught that the fourth com- 
mandment had passed from the law. They could 
not have failed to state this fact, and that, too, 
most clearly, had they reduced the command- 
ments to nine, instead of ten, the number mentioned 
in the Bible. And the opposition the Jews would 
have made to such a breach in their law, would have 
made a prominent appearance in the writings of the 
apostles ; and church history would have mentioned 
the continued debate. "We may be assured that 
the Sabbath law was not repealed at the beginning 
of the Gospel church ! And more than this — we 
have abundant proof, in church history, that the 
Christian church has kept the Sabbath of the moral 
law from the time of the apostles ; and that because 
it is the fourth commandment. Those who reject 
or neglect the Sabbath make a very strange mis- 
take, and a very great one ! 

12. The Christian Sabbath is absolutely necessary 
to the success of the Christian church. What could 
Christianity do in its mission for the world's con- 
version without the Sabbath ? How few would 
attend its worshiping assemblies to hear the Gospel 
preached, or to feel the influence of social meetings, 



THE SABBATH. 45 

if all days were working days ! How many, even 
of its own members, nominally so, would be absent 
on these occasions ! And many churches, having 
no divine rule, would come to the conclusion that 
one-seventh part of one's life is too muc^to be taken 
from w r orldly interests, and devoted exclusively to 
religious purposes^ if God had not revealed to us 
this necessity. "Were the seventh-day Sabbath giv- 
en up, how soon would the people differ as to the 
portion of time necessary to devote to public wor- 
ship. And very soon different days would be kept 
by different people, and by many no days observed 
religiously, until confusion would be carried through 
the whole system of divine worship. And the pres-* 
ent restraints of Sabbath influences being taken off 
of the world, and its helps lost to the church, the 
church would fast decline in piety, and soon but 
few retain even the forms of Christianity ; and the 
nominally Christianized world would be startled at 
the rapid increase of vice and crime ! If the Gos- 
pel makes such slow progress in reforming the 
world, and in advancing the church in holiness, with 
all the great moral influences connected with holy 
time, what could it do without its restraints and its 
helps ? Certainly but very little. In proportion as 
the Sabbath is desecrated, as holy time, the church 
loses its pow T er for good. Though such vast num- 
bers disregard the divine authority, in refusing to 
separate hallowed from common time, and so many 



46 THE SABBATH. 

professors keep it in a half-worldly manner, yet it 
serves as a mighty barrier against sin, and is a great 
help to virtue and piety. 

Can any one professing to be a Christian, or any 
well wishei^ to Christianity, or any one friendly to 
good morals, be indifferent to this subject, or pursue 
a course to weaken the influence of the Sabbath 
over society ? Shall we not sustain an institution 
so closely connected with the best interests of the 
church, the nation, and the world ? And especially 
one so absolutely necessary to the moral and relig- 
ious training of the young ? And he who has not 
a taste for the services of sacred time, surely cannot 
imagine himself prepared for the employments of 
the heavenly rest ! And as friends of the Sabbath, 
we must not only abstain from working days' em- 
ployments on this day, and restrain those under our 
care, but be present in the religious assemblies, and 
aid in sustaining Sabbath worship ; and thus show 
our friendship to the institution by assisting to carry 
out its designs. A little reflection will convince us 
that he who is not for the Sabbath is against it« 
And every person in a Christian country, who does 
not make himself an outcast, enjoys very many ad- 
vantages from Sabbath influences over society; and 
no man is the loser by contributing his proportion 
in sustaining it, as suitable Sabbath-keeping most 
certainly contributes to health of body, peace of 
conscience, and cheerfulness of spirits — to good 



THE SABBATH. 47 

morals, and to temporal prosperity. And no one 
will deny that it adds to the respectability of a per- 
son and a community. 

It is a sad reflection that so many thousands in 
Christian lands have come up from infancy to man- 
hood so familiarized with neglects and violations of 
the Sabbath as to prevent in them feelings of sacred 
regard for holy time ; and as a consequence, vast 
numbers look upon its strict observance as su- 
perstition, while multitudes have feelings of aversion 
to it as a religious institution ; and not a few per- 
sons who admit its obligation feel it a weariness 
rather than a privilege. To these multitudes the 
benefits of the Sabbath are, in a great degree, lost. 
Hence the striking fact that more than three-fourths 
of all committed to penitentiaries, jails, and prisons, 
are bold violators or neglectors of Sabbath time. 
And looseness of principle on this subject charac- 
terizes most of the other fourth. A conscientious 
Sabbath-keeper is quite secure from these places. 
A very large proportion of the children of our coun- 
try are, on the Sabbath, familiarized with conversa- 
tion on working days' business, pleasure rides, 
worldly amusements, or pleasure parties ; or to see 
the day spent in an idle, sluggish way, as burden- 
some time. Or, it may be, to see it connected with 
theatrical performances, or hunting, fishing, berry- 
ing, or visiting — or perhaps in traveling, merely to 
save working days' time. And in not a few instan- 



48 THE SABBATH. 

ces, children are associated with members of churches 
who habituate themselves to more or less of these 
modes of Sabbath violations. And is it at all 
strange that persons coming up to manhood under 
such circumstances, should find it somewhat diffi- 
cult to feel that sacred regard for holy time which 
their enlightened judgment convinces them they 
should have ? Much less is it any marvel that feel- 
ings and habits in accordance with such early asso- 
ciations should be carried into after life, and follow 
many to the end of their probation. Not a few 
persons, when convinced of wrong, are quite unwill- 
ing to break up old habits, and to give up old prin- 
ciples, deeply imbedded in the feelings and inter- 
woven into the practices of past life. It is a fear- 
ful thing to have a hand informing wrong habits in 
the lives, and creating erroneous principles in the 
minds of the young ! And such is the number and 
variety of ways in which a violation and neglect of 
the Sabbath operates against good society, in pr©- 
ducing vice and irreligion, and so numerous the 
modes in which a scriptural attention to it prevents 
unhealthy idleness, improves useful knowledge, and 
excites to useful living, that in no way can we ad- 
vance the good of others, and the divine honor, more 
than by making " the Sabbath a delight, the holy of 
the Lord, honorable." 

And this must be done principally by example 
and instruction. Where good examples are not 



THE SABBATH. 49 

found, all other means will fail of success. The 
civil law given to the Jews protected the fourth 
commandment, as it did also the other nine. Such 
penalties were fixed to the violation of them as the 
nature of the case, the circumstances of the times, 
and the condition of the people demanded — God 
himself being judge. And it is now the duty of 
civil governments to protect the moral law, so far as 
civil law can do this ; not by way of establishing a 
national or state religion, but for the security of the 
good morals of the state, upon which rests the safe- 
ty of good government, and the happiness of the 
people. National morals must be protected ; and 
these are made up of the morals of individuals. 
The civil laws which protect other of the ten com- 
mandments are not designed to, nor do they, estab- 
lish a law religion. This protection is designed only 
to assist in securing the rights of the people and 
protecting good morals ; thereby to secure the safety 
of government and the happiness of its subjects. 
Civil laws protect the ten commandments as the in- 
fallible and safe foundation of national morals. It 
is on this principle, and this alone, that the fourth 
section of the moral law should have the protection 
of civil laws. The laws which are made for the 
protection of the decalogue, distinguish Christian 
governments from the governments of idolatrous 
nations, which sustain principles directly opposed to 
the commandments of the living God. 



50 THE SABBATH. 

There is nothing capable of clearer evidence than 
the fact, that, no nation, properly so, can long exist 
without a system of religion, having certain leading 
points in which the mass of the people may agree. 
And no nation can protect itself against divisions, 
civil wars, the oppression of ambitious men, the 
degradation of the mass of the people, and revolu- 
tions, when their system of religion is founded on 
bad morals, or is wanting in motives of sufficient 
magnitude to deter from vice, and induce to virtue 
and piety. And it is capable of the clearest demon- 
stration, that the ten precepts of the moral law, as 
explained in Christ's sermon on the mount, and in 
other scriptures, is the true, and the only true foun- 
dation of the virtue and happiness of individuals, 
and hence, of good society. Consequently, their 
moral, spiritual, and practical influence is the only 
true foundation of national security ! 

And hence, though we do not claim that govern- 
ment should support a system of national law re- 
ligion, yet it most certainly should support good 
morals, by protecting its subjects in the practice and 
defense of the precepts of the decalogue. No doubt 
the true religion will take care of itself if its subjects 
are protected, and its principles carried out in their 
lives — being implanted in their hearts. And as the 
other nine commandments cannot long be sustained 
if the fourth is repealed, or disregarded, it is abso- 
lutely necessary to protect this, in order to secure 



THE SABBATH. 51 

the advantages of the others. And every idea of 
civil government implies that its subjects have no 
personal rights which endanger the government it- 
self, or which will disturb the public peace. All 
such rights are supposed to be given up, in exchange 
for the benefits of civil government. The true line 
between personal civil liberty and civil government 
must be where the conduct of the individuals is 
the most conducive to their own happiness, and the 
happiness of all those with whom they are associa- 
ted for government purposes. It is the perfection of 
civil government, and the extent of civil liberty, to 
find, and to harmonize on, this division line of rights. 
Hence the fact that there are persons who claim it 
as a right to do what they please on the Sabbath 
as on other days, is not a sound objection to the 
doctrine of Sabbath protection by civil laws, as this 
would equally prove the right of all men to violate 
either of the other commandments, as their con- 
sciences would allow them, or as they should plead 
the right of conscience so to do. And this would 
make an end of all civil government ! But tliere 
are bounds to personal rights ) as well as to govern- 
me?tt rights ; and the man who cannot give up such 
private rights as it is necessary to sacrifice to have 
public government, that man cannot govern himself. 
These are the persons who create the necessity for 
courts of justice. They are selfish. Now we have 
proved that the fourth commandment is of the same 



52 THE SABBATH. 

authority, and its observance as necessary to the 
public good, as is attention to the other nine, — that 
if this is abandoned, -the others cannot be maintain- 
ed. Hence the whole of the moral law should have 
the protection of civil government, that it may ex- 
ert the extent of its moral influence over society. 

That "righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a 
reproach to any people," is a self-evident proverb. 
It is demonstrated by facts within the observation 
of every person. But how shall a nation become 
righteous ? An important question ! The little 
streams make up the brooks ; these, the rivers ; and 
the rivers create the ocean ; the waters of which, 
evaporated by the sun, descend upon the earth, pro- 
ducing vegetation, plenty, and healthful air, and 
thereby sustain animal life and give cheerfulness. 
So individuals make up families ; these, towns ; the 
towns form the States ; and the States make up the 
nation. And the political, moral, and religious 
principles of the nation, in its laws, its offices, and 
its officers, if good, rise up by the influence of the 
Sun of Righteousness, and go out over all the land, 
protecting, blessing, and cheering the whole. And 
thus each person, town, and State, are re-blessed 
by the good influences they send out. Now as the 
great whole is made up of individuals, so the great 
work is effected by making each person right, be- 
ginning with each one in infancy, and giving a righ 
aining to the youth, not forgetting the improve- 



THE SABBATH. 53 

merit of us who are older. The work of convert- 
ing a nation to holiness, to happiness, and to safety 
— as well as to usefulness among the nations — must 
be done by littles ; as the millions of little streams 
unite and form the rivers, and these the great ocean. 
But many hands can do a great many littles — and 
these many littles make up the great work. A truly 
Christian nation would be a sublime object ! And 
should not this be the highest ambition of a nomi- 
nally Christian nation ? Would not this secure 
safety, happiness, and the highest degree of national 
honor ? To have it known that all our rulers were 
really good men — Christian men — would add im- 
mensely to our national reputation. 

It would be a great misfortune to Christianity to 
be supported as a law religion, and imply a weak- 
ness in it to suppose it needed such a support. But 
it would be a great good to have the hearts of the 
nation so influenced by Gospel holiness, as to move 
them spontaneously to appoint to all its offices of 
trust men of established piety and virtue. The true 
statesman has that love of country which true Chris- 
tianity inspires. As the morals of title Christianity 
underlie all the principles and measures which se- 
cure national happiness, such a state of things 
would end unwholesome political strife ; such as 
originates in selfishness, stirs up bad passions, rocks 
the whole country, and shakes the government to 
its foundation ! It would create love to the public 



54 THE SABBATH. 

welfare, secure the divine blessing, and spread con- 
tentment and happiness among the people ! " Hap- 
py is that people whose God is the Lord." That 
the world should have existed eighteen hundred 
years under the noonday light of the Sun of Right- 
eousness, within reach of all the powerful agencies 
of " the Gospel of the grace of God/ 7 and not one 
nation yet thus leavened and imbued with the holi- 
ness of Christianity, is a consideration which should 
stir with deep and intense feeling the heart of every 
one who, in any degree, shares in the sympathy of 
the worlds Redeemer in the lost condition of man- 
kind ! "What nation will, in deed and m truth, be 
the first Christianized nation ? "Will it be some one 
now bearing the Christian name, but not worthily 
sustaining: it ? Or will it be some one now heathen ? 
Perhaps Africa. " The last shall be first." 

But every sensible person knows that a suitable 
attention to the Sabbath, as holy time, lies at the 
foundation of all the truly religious success of the 
Gospel church — that Christianity could not succeed 
.n its spiritual work without this. And the help the 
church afforcfe the nation, to real prosperity, de- 
pends, not so much upon its numbers, as upon its 
holiness ; the personal goodness of its members ; 
its success in multiplying truly righteous persons, 
who will exert a Christian influence. For nearly 
fifteen hundred years, the greatest obstacle to the 
proper work of Christianity has been, that its name 



THE SABBATH. 55 

has gone far ahead of itself — its spirit. Its depth 
has by no means equaled its breadth and extent. 
And where its name, and some of its forms, have 
been adopted, without its nature and spirit, it has> 
of course, failed to accomplish its proposed ends. 
And just so with the Sabbath; its name, and the 
shadow of its form, have gone far beyond itself; be- 
yond where its great designs audits obligation have 
been understood ; where the nature and spirit of it 
have not taken hold of the hearts of the people. The 
true faith and practice of the Sabbath, in the spirit 
of it, cannot fail to reform the people, and lead them 
to worship the living God, " in spirit and in truth." 
What vast numbers have been saved from demor- 
alizing principles and practices by the Sabbath in- 
fluences ! And how many millions converted from 
sin to holiness, by its redeeming power ! And 
alas ! how many have been ruined, by leaving the 
Sabbath worshiping assemblies, and idling away 
and violating the time consecrated for their moral 
and religious benefit. "While, on the other hand, 
multitudes have seen the connection between their 
strict regard to the Sabbath, and their good morals, 
prosperity in business, and their religious blessings. 
And other things being right, every Christian man 
will find himself advancing in holiness as he consci- 
entiously avoids, even the appearance of Sabbath 
violations, and improves the day in agreement with 
its designs. 



56 THE SABBATH. 

"We wish to be useful. Many may have talents 
and means of usefulness which we have not. But 
there is one way in which all may be useful. *Be a 
scriptural Sabbath keeper. Be decided. Let your 
opinion be known. Don't be afraid. It is a subject 
that will bear examination. The more it is con- 
versed about, the more arguments will come up in 
its support. Sabbath neglectors and violators of 
holy time know they are wrong ; and they never 
feel right. It is the Sabbath keeper who, on this 
-subject, has a clear conscience. And, say what you 
will, it adds greatly to a man's weight of character, 
as a citizen, to be known as a consistent observer 
of Sabbath time, as every one sees its utility 
and the bad influences of the opposite course. The 
Bible enjoins the Sabbath ; it has not repealed it ; 
and we cannot do without it. He who breaks it 
violates the moral law, — the ten commandments, 
as the rule of our moral conduct. The Divine Kev- 
elation must be our only infallible standard of doc- 
trines and of morals. Abandon this, and we have 
no rule of moral conduct ; nor can we know wheth- 
er the religious doctrines we advocate are true or 
false. TTninstructed reason is a blind guide. And 
of all improbabilities, nothing is more improbable, 
than that an infinitely wise and holy God should 
leave the subjects of His intelligent creation aud 
government without an infallible standard of relig- 
ious truth, as a guide of their conduct — towards 



-THE SABBATH. 57 

Himself, and towards each other. The contrary 
opinion defames the character of the great Creator ! 
But the religious experience of millions of good 
and true men has long since demonstrated the di- 
vine origin of the holy Scriptures. And this ex- 
perience is supported by the practical influence of 
the Decalogue, as explained in the sermon on the 
mount. These are all in the right direction. Head 
the ten commandments, in Exodus, 20th chapter; 
and then turn over, and read the sermon, in Mat- 
thew, fifth, sixth, and seventh chapters ; — read them 
carefully; — and then say, if in your opinion, we 
could have a better system of experience and of 
practice. Can any one be wrong, — or injurious to 
others, — -or unsafe in death, — whose character and 
practice are conformed to these rules ? — so far as 
usefulness and happiness are connected with moral 
character and conduct, he is fitted and qualified. 
Well, the decalogue enjoins the seventh-day Sab- 
bath'; and the sermon asserts the claims of all its 
precepts,— the whole ten, — every jot and tittle, — 
till heaven and earth pass away ! 

So that, whatever view we take of this subject, 
it is far better, and infinitely more safe, to work on- 
ly the six days, and enjoy the seventh as a religious 
rest, than to w T ork on the Sabbath, with the Bible 
against us. If the word of God is with us, and 
the divine blessing is upon us, and w^e have a good 

conscience, and a life of useful example, we .shall 

3* 



58 THE SABBATH. 

pass safely out of time, secure an eternity of good, 
and leave behind us a lesson of instruction to the 
world, which we shall not regret at death. And 
the joys of heaven will be heightened by the reflec- 
tion that the world is still being made better by our 
useful example during our probation on the earth. 
" Remember the Sabbath-day, to keep it holy." 



SHOULD THE SABBATH BE OBSERVED ON THE DAY 
CALLED THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK ? 

The fact that the Sabbath is called the seventh 
day, and that it is now kept one day later in time 
than it was by the Jews in the time of Christ, has 
led many to suppose that the Christian Church is 
off the true seventh day of sacred time. These 
persons, when they practice their theory, keep their 
Sabbath on Saturday; imagining that they are on 
an unbroken succession of weeks from the creation 
until now; and that the Scriptures require this. 
And that, consequently, all who are off their suc- 
cession, are Sabbath-breakers, — do not keep the 
commandments — while they themselves are the only 
true Sabbath-keepers. But it is a great mistake to 
suppose it certain that the Jews kept their holy time 
on such an unbroken succession, from the first Sab- 
bath. And a greater error to imagine that the 
fourth commandment, or any other text of Scrip- 



THE SABBATH. 59 

ture, requires of us that we observe the seventh day 
Sabbath institution on such a succession ; and that 
by a loss of such a count of weeks, from creation 
down, we lose the Bible Sabbath. Those who ad- 
vocate these doctrines are called Sabbatarians ; be- 
cause they oppose the Sabbath being on Sunday, 
and keep the Jewish Sabbath. 

The evils growing out of Sabbatarian notions 
make this question a subject of great importance, 
both to the church, and to society in general. And 
as no one believes the Bible requires two Sabbaths 
each week, the evils of keeping up two must be 
charged upon the party keeping up the false one. 

The keeping of more than one Sabbath each 
week is not a little inconvenient to all company 
business, when the persons associated differ on the 
day. And the inconvenience is in proportion to the 
capital invested, and the number and importance of 
the persons thus disagreeing. And every person 
who keeps Sabbath on a different day from those 
around, will find much inconvenience in so doing. 
And a Christian must feel unpleasant to interrupt 
the feelings and disturb the worship of the body of 
people, by engaging in secular business on their holy 
time. If a Sabbatarian was a member of a national 
Congress, the government would lose his services 
fifty- two days each year of his term. And a few 
such, if men of distinction, and allowed to keep their 
offices, and hold their Sabbath time, might stop the 



60 THE SABBATH. 

business of the national assembly for that portion 
of time. And the same inconveniences would be 
realized in all Legislatures, in proportion to their 
time and numbers. And in all Courts of Justice ; 
judges, jurors, lawyers, witnesses, or parties concern- 
ed, being Sabbatarians, would interrupt business 
one day in each week. And Colleges, Academies, 
and other Schools, must be interrupted one work- 
ing day in each week, — according to the number and 
importance of such persons connected with schools, 
as officers, teachers, and scholars. And students of 
law and of medicine, and all apprentices of trades 
must be discommoded, or discommode others, unless 
connected with persons of their own Sabbath views. 
Its inconveniences to families are very great. Keep- 
ing days as holy time while others around them are 
at work, it is difficult to manage the children in ac- 
cordance with sacred hours. Or indeed, for any of 
the family to realize the difference between sacred 
time and working days, or to feel themselves on time 
consecrated to spiritual devotions ; as when enjoy- 
ing the stillness which properly belongs to Sabbath 
hours. 

And if the parents are divided, one against the 
other, which shall control the children and domes- 
tics ? The law is, "Kemember the Sabbath day, to 
keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all 
thy work ; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of 
the Lord thy God ; in it thou shalt not do any work; 



THE SABBATH. 61 

thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-ser- 
vant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy 
stranger that is within thy gates." All upon the 
premises must be managed in accordance with holy 
time. JFhe father may manage the smaller children, 
— perhaps, — but will he govern the larger ones ? 
And how will the mother do ? And if all the fam- 
ily "lay by " to accommodate the father, will he allow 
them to keep Sunday as Sabbath-time ? It some- 
times happens that persons keep no day, merely be- 
cause they cannot keep Sunday. Not believing 
that Saturday is Sabbath, they work ; and it not 
being convenient to keep Sabbath while the family 
are at work, they feel released from the fourth com- 
mandment, by a seeming necessity in their case. 
And in consequence of family and business relations 
between those holding different Sabbaths, Saturday 
is often kept as a kind of half Sabbath : and Sunday 
spent in visiting, and conversation upon business af- 
fairs with Sabbatarians, anti-Sabbatarians, and No- 
thingarians. This, with the examples of working, rid- 
ing about, &c, keeps up a continued course of Sab- 
bath-breaking ; removes from the feelings of the 
people the respect due to sacred time, and lowers 
down the dignity of the institution, and thus destroys 
its moral, its religious, and its merciful designs; 
and the more so, as these irregularities originate 
with the professed advocates of the Sabbath. This 
is certainly a great offense against the moral law ! 



62 THE SABBATH. 

And holding different Sabbaths. is a great dam- 
age to the church. Not only by its injurious influ- 
ence on hallowed time, and by preventing the peo- 
ple from meeting for worship on the same day, and 
the disturbance of each working on the others' 
sacred time ; but as all agree that there can be but 
one Sabbath each week, one party must be consid- 
ered, in church discipline, as violators of the fourth 
commandment. And hence persons thus differing 
cannot be in the same church organization, and 
practice this difference. And with the present dif- 
ferences of opinions among men, if all Sabbatarians 
should go into one body, their condition would be 
no better, as agreeing on this point cannot har- 
monize them on church government, church ordi- 
nances, and on doctrinal questions. To consider 
the opinion that Saturday is Sabbath, of so much 
importance that every other consideration should 
be sacrificed, for the sake of agreement on this one 
point, would prove such persons fanatics, or doc- 
trinally bewildered. 

The great importance of this subject should in- 
terest every person to fully investigate the argu- 
ments connected with it. And we should thorough- 
ly acquaint ourselves with the reasons for the change 
of the day, as now practiced by the body of the 
church. We should be able to give the reasons 
why we believe any Sat>bath obligatory, — why we 
keep the day we do, — and why we begin Sabbath 



THE SABBATH. 63 

time the hour we do. Without this we cannot have 
a rational faith in our own Sabbath theory ; nor can 
we defend our practice when attacked ; neither can 
we converse intelligibly on this subject. And those 
who reject the Sabbath should, above all, be well 
informed in relation to the arguments in its defense ; 
as they are on the dangerous side. 

Sabbatarians teach that, to be off their Sabbath, 
is to be off the moral law. One of them writes thus, 
"The fact that He has never required of us to rest 
on that day, Sunday, shows that its observance in 
the place of the Sabbath is a clear instance of mak- 
ing void the commandments of God to keep the tra- 
ditions of men." And this sentiment they often ad- 
vance. Now if it shall appear that the Bible has 
not required of us to keep the seventh-day Sabbath 
institution on an unbroken succession of weeks? 
from the first rest day until now; but that the seventh- 
day Sabbath is now on the first day of the week, — - 
not us, — -but the Sabbatarians, will be the ones who 
have made void the fourth commandment, by 
adopting the tradition of the modern Jews, that Sat- 
urday is Sabbath! Now — all prejudice aside — 
let us candidly examine the subject. We wish to 
know which side is on the commandments ; and 
which is on tradition. Now we have a fair state- 
ment of the subject in discussion ; and what we have- 
thus far said, shows that our time will be well spent 
in a suitable investigation of this subject. 



64 THE SABBATH. 

And our first inquiry is, — and it is one of great 
importance, — what has been the doctrine and prac- 
tice of the church in relation to this point, from the 
Apostles' time ? On this question we have abundance 
of light. It is a well established fact that the sev- 
enth-day Sabbath has been observed on the day 
called the first day of the week, from the beginning 
of the gospel church. Bishop Andrews, a learned 
and pious writer of the first part of the seventeenth 
century, says, u There is not an ecclesiastical w 7 riter 
in whom it is not found." The Sabbath being set 
forward one day, carries the week forward with it. 
This brought the seventh day on to what was, and 
still is, called the first day. It is the first day, ac- 
cording to the old reckoning ; but the seventh day 
in counting for the Sabbath; as it continues to be 
preceded by six days allotted to work. Now it is 
the seventh-day Christian Sabbath ; and the insti- 
tution is that enjoined in the fourth commandment. 

The authors from whom we quote as authorities, 
are, Dr. T. Dwight, formerly President of Yale 
College; Rev. A. A. Phelps; Dr. J. Edwards; and 
D. Wilson, on the Sabbath ; and J. L. Mosheim, a 
learned historian, who died in 1755 ; and Eusebius, 
an ecclesiattical historian, of great learning, who 
died in 338, or in the first part of the fourth century. 
In the days of Eusebius, there was an abundance of 
writings such as were necessary to furnish him with 
ample means of knowing the practice of the church, 



THE SABBATH. 65 

up to the days of the Apostles. And as this writ- 
er must have known the facts in the case, and is 
good authority as a historian, let us hear him first. 
But here let us call attention to an important fact. 
It is this. All the writers distinguish between the 
Christian Sabbath, and the Sabbath kept by the 
Jews after the gospel church began. To do so, 
they call the former, the first day, the eighth day, 
the Christian festival, Sunday, and the Lord's Day. 
And that these names refer to the Christian Sab- 
bath, as distinguished from the day kept by the 
Jews, is sufficiently plain. This one fact establishes' 
the truth that the Christian seventh-day^ Sabbath, 
as it now exists, was kept in the first ages of the 
church. "We shall also see that the first Christians 
understood the Sabbath to be removed unto the day 
Christ arose, to commemorate that great event. 
These two facts demonstrate the doctrine we de- 
fend. 

Now let us hear Eusebius. He says of the Ebon- 
ites, who existed in the first centuries, " They also 
observe the Sabbath and other discipline of the 
Jews, just like them ; but on the other hand, they 
also celebrate the Lord's day, very much like us, in 
commemoration of the resurrection." P. 113. And 
he quotes Dionysius as saying to Soter, Bishop of 
Rome, " To-day we have passed the Lord's day, in 
which we have read your epistles." P. 160. And 
he tells us, p. 162, that Melito, Bishop of Sardis, in 



66 THE SABBATH. 

the second century, wrote a "discourse on the Lord's 
day." And on page 207, speaking of the contro- 
versy which occurred in the year 180, upon the pass- 
over, he says, "Hence there were Synods and Con- 
vocations of Bishops on this question ; and all unan- 
imously drew up an ecclesiastical decree, which they 
communicated to all the churches in all places, that 
the Lord's resurrection should be celebrated on no 
other day than the Lord's day." So that the Chris- 
tian Lord's day was on the resurrection day. And 
page 209, he says, " Among these also was Irenseus, 
who, in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom 
he presided, wrote an epistle, in which he maintains 
the duty of celebrating the resurrection of our Lord, 
only on the Lord's day." No one can doubt that 
the term Lord, in these quotations, means Christ; 
or that, by the Lord's day, is here meant Christ's 
day, — the Christian Sabbath; held on the resurrec- 
tion day, as the writers thus explain themselves. 
And Eusebius is quoted by Dr. J. Edwards, assay- 
ing in his Commentary on the Psalms, "On each 
day of our Savior's- resurrection, which is called our 
Lord's day, we may see those who partake of the con- 
secrated food, and that body which has saving effi- 
cacy, after eating it, bowing down to Him. The 
"Word, by the new covenant, transferred and trans- 
lated the feast of the Sabbath to the morning light, 
and gave us the true rest, viz : the saving Lord's 
day." And the Council of Nice, held in 325 ? called up 



THE SABBATH. 67 

this question, and resolved that, " Easter day was fix- 
ed on the Sunday immediately following the new moon 
which was nearest after the vernal equinox, because 
it was certain that the Savior rose from the dead on 
Sunday which next succeeded the passover of the 
Jews." These quotations show that the day of the 
Sabbath institution was changed at the beginning 
of the Gospel dispensation. 

Theodoret, " an illustrious ecclesiastical histori- 
an," of the fifth century, says of a party of Judaizing 
Christians, "They keep the Sabbath according to 
the Jewish law, and sanctify the Lord's day in like 
manner as we do." Professor Stuart says, " This 
gives a good historical view of the state of things 
in the early days of the church. The zealots for 
the law wished the Jewish Sabbath to be observed 
as well as the Lord's day ; for about the latter there 
appears never to have been any question among any 
class of Christians, so far as I have been able to dis- 
cover." Edwards' Sabbath Manual. The same writ- 
er says, " It was not until the party in the Christian 
church became extinct, or nearly so, who pleaded 
for the seventh day, or Jewish Sabbath, as well as 
the Lord's day, that the name Sabbath began to be 
given to the first day of the week." A. A. Phelps 
on the Sabbath. 

And Mosheim tells us in the first century, " All 
Christians were unanimous in setting apart the first 
day of the w T eek, on which the triumphant Savior 



68 THE SABBATH. 

rose from the dead, for a solemn celebration of pub- 
lic worship." And that " The seventh day of the 
week was also observed as a public festival, not by 
the Christians in general, but by such churches only 
as were principally composed of Jewish converts." 
And he tells us, that in the fourth century, " The 
first day of the week, which was the ordinary and 
stated time for the public assembling of Christians, 
was, in consequence of a peculiar law enacted by 
Constantine, observed with more solemnity than it 
had formerly been." And about the year 316, Con- 
stantine enjoined the religious observance of the 
Lord's day, not only on his own household, but 
commanded that it should be kept as a day of rest 
throughout the Eoman Empire. He decreed that 
the religious soldiers in his armies should be per- 
mitted to perform their religious duties on that day 
without molestation. This he allowed also, to those 
who desired it, on the Jewish Sabbath. No em- 
peror, king/pope, or council has established any new 
time for the Christian Sabbath. 

And for the satisfaction of the reader, we give 
the following quotations from the authorities we 
mentioned. Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and said 
to be a disciple of John, says, " Let us no more sab- 
batise, but let us keep the Lord's day, on which our 
life arose. Let every one of us who love Christ 
keep holy the Lord's day, the resurrection day, the 
highest of days." Irenseus, Bishop of Lyons, in 



THE SABBATH. 69 

the year 167, " On the Lord's day every one of us 
keep Sabbath." Barnabas, who lived soon after 
the Apostles, " "We keep the eighth day, as a joy- 
ful day, on which also Jesus rose from the dead." 
Tertullian, in 190, " The Lord's day is the holy day 
of the Christian .church. We have nothing to do 
with Sabbath. Every eighth day is the Christian 
festival, kept as a day of rejoicing." Theophilus, 
Bishop of Antioch, in 162, " Both custom and rea- 
son challenge from us that we should honor the 
Lord's day, seeing that on that day it w 7 as that the 
Lord Jesus completed his resurrection from the 
dead." Dyonycious, Bishop of Rome, in 192, "We 
celebrate the Lord's day." Clement, in 192, " A 
Christian, according to the commandment of the 
gospel, observes the Lord's day, thereby glorifying 
the resurrection of the Lord. The Lord's day is 
the eighth day." Justin Martyr, in 197, in his 
Apology for Christians, addressed to the Emperor 
Antonius, u On the day called Sunday, there is a 
meeting in one place of all the Christians that live 
either in town or in country ; and the memoirs of 
the Apostles, or the writings of the Prophets, are 
read to them as long as suitable ; " after w 7 hich, he 
says, u the President pronounces an admonition and 
exhortation to those noble examples." And Chrysos- 
tom, appointed Bishop of Borne in 195, says, " It 
w T as called the Lord's day because the Lord rose 
from the dead on that day." Cyprian, in 253, "The 



70 THE SABBATH. 

Lord's day is the day of the Sabbath." Ambrose, 
in the fourth century, " The Lord's day is sacred, 
or consecrated by the resurrection of Christ." And 
the church council of Laodicea, in 363, decreed that, 
" It is not proper for Christians to Judaize, and to 
cease from labor on the Sabbath, but that they 
ought to work on this day, and put especial honor 
on the Lord's day, by refraining from labor as Chris- 
tians." And Austin, in the sixth century, says, 
" The Lord's day was, by the resurrection, declared 
to Christians, and from that very time began to be 
declared as the Christian festival." 

The writers from whom the quotations we have 
given, are made, were among the most prominent 
men of the first ages of the church; who had 
abundant means of information on this subject : and 
as historians, they are reliable. And the fact to be 
proved is mentioned by so many writers, and in 
such a variety of forms, as to exclude the possibili- 
ty of mistake. These writers not only teach the 
fact that the Christian Sabbath was on the resur- 
rection day, but that to distinguish it from the Jew- 
ish Sabbath, it was called the first day, the eighth 
day, the Christian festival, Sunday, and the Lord's 
day, and that, by the Lord's day, is meant Christ's 
day. In agreement with the Apostles, who were 
accustomed to call what either belonged to, or was 
originated by the Savior, the Lord's, — as " The 
Lord's supper, the Lord's death, the cup of the 



i 



THE SABBATH. 71 

Lord, the body and blood of the Lord, and the 
Lord's day. The Son of man is Lord also of the 
Sabbath." Every circumstance goes to show that 
the change we defend was made by the authority 
of Christ. Thus far all is natural and plain; just 
as we should expect things to be if the Sabbath was 
changed by divine authority. And we should ex- 
pect the converts from Judaism, while they kept 
the Christian Sabbath with their brethren, to reluc- 
tantly give up their old day, as they did some other 
Jewish customs. 

Archbishop Leo, in the year 469, has a good ex- 
hortation on this subject : " If the Jews did so much 
reverence their Sabbaths, which were but a shadow 
of ours, are not we who inhabit the light and truth 
of grace bound to honor that day which God him- 
self has honored ; and hath therein delivered us 
from dishonor and from death ? Are we not bound 
to keep it singular and inviolable, well contenting 
ourselves with so liberal a grant of the rest ? Were 
it not reckless neglect to make that very day com- 
mon, and to think we may do with it as with the 
rest ? " 

But leaving the testimony of the early writers, 
who all agree in supporting the authority of the 
first day of the week as Sabbath time, let us in- 
quire, — "Was Sabbath time changed during the 
first three centuries ? or before the days of Con- 
stantine, when the Christians were protected against 
the violent persecutions of the heathen ? 



72 THE SABBATH. 

Allowing the Apostles and first Christians to have 
been Sabbatarians — to have taught the doctrine of 
the necessity of an unbroken succession of seventh- 
day Sabbaths, from the creation, — it is impossible 
that the whole church should have, so soon, lost 
that doctrine, and have changed the day, and that, 
too, by common consent, without any controversy ! 
And more especially as this change is supposed to 
violate the fourth commandment. And how strange 
that, if this change was made after the organization 
of the gospel church, no writer should mention so 
important a fact, or even allude to it ! And more 
especially so, as many of them speak of the Jewish 
Sabbath as distinguished from the one observed by 
the Christians ; and often refer to the fact that many 
of the converts from Judaism, for a considerable 
time, continued the Jewish Sabbath, while they ob- 
served'the Christian rest-day also. And moreover, 
they were exhorted to abandon the old Sabbath time 
as a relic of Judaism. And, besides, we hear of no 
one assigning as a reason for observing the Jewish 
Sabbath, the arguments now used. 

During these three centuries the church had be- 
come quite numerous, and had extended its labors 
into nearly every part of the then known world, 
and had many writers. Such a change of the Sab- 
bath, having the importance attached to it by Sab- 
batarians, must have required considerable time, and 
have caused much controversy, which would have 



THE SABBATH. 73 

been often referred to by the writers of those times. 
Where were all the Sabbatarians all this time ? Did 
they look on with indifference, while the Sabbath 
institution was going off the fourth commandment ? 
The persecutions of those times kept the church too 
much alive in holiness and to gospel requirements, 
to allow such a change as would destroy the Sab- 
bath. It is certain that such a change in the Sab- 
bath could not have been made at any time during 
the first three centuries. This is very plain. 

And as it is impossible that the day of Sabbath 
time could have been changed after the Apostles 5 
time, and before the close of the third century, so 
is it equally impossible that such a change could 
have been made at any time since that period, by 
emperors, councils, or ministers of state. Not only 
because we have full proof that it was kept upon 
its present day before that time, but we have'abund- 
ant means of knowing the fact, if the change had 
been made since. Church councils now became 
frequent, and all subjects of church interest were 
called up, and that of the Sabbath not unfrequent- 
ly. Many persons had now become fond of con- 
troversy ; and church writers were quite numerous ; 
and laws were enacted for the protection of the 
Sabbath. But notwithstanding all this, nothing is 
said of any change in Sabbath time, to which any 
Christian objected ! Where were all the Sabbata- 
rians, all this time ? Had they all died before this, 



74 THE SABBATH. 

that ho one started a controversy, or stood up in 
defense of an unbroken succession of weekly Sab- 
baths, from "the first seventh-day the Lord bless- 
ed" ? If this change was made, it was done so still, 
and so suddenly, and so thoroughly, that not one 
Sabbitarian remained to tell the story of the loss of 
their day ! For if the change was gradual, how 
was it that such vast numbers should so tamely 
yield up their hebdomadary unbroken succession — 
and the fourth commandment, — and that without 
an effort to save them ? Having had plenty of time 
to reflect, why were not their voices heard in church 
councils or in writings ? Why is there no record 
of so important a controversy ? or some reference to 
such a change in Sabbath time ? The only rational 
answer to all this is, the succession of weekly con- 
secrated time has not been changed since the gospel 
church was organized, — on the day of Pentecost. 
And that was probably the first Christian Sabbath. 
And a great day it was, too ! It is not very proba- 
ble that the Sabbath would be fully Christianized 
until the Christian church was formed, and the 
Christian dispensation commenced, and the light of 
Christianity was given. 

But it adds much to the influence of even good 
arguments, clearly stated, when there are strong 
reasons why the point argued should be thus. It 
is not enough for the human mind that a duty is 
commanded ; it is a great help to our faith that we 



THE SABBATH. 75 

see its utility, its reasonableness. And there is a 
striking fitness, and a manifest reasonableness, in 
the doctrine that Christ removed the Sabbath on to 
the day he rose from the dead. Let us look at these 
reasons. We may find more to interest us than we 
have supposed. 

1. Nothing appears more proper than that the 
resurrection of the world's Eedeemer should be 
thus commemorated. That this leading fact in the 
Savior's doings should be, some how, celebrated by 
the church, is evident. And this monument is cer- 
tainly a very suitable one to continually remind us 
of this great event. We are told that the day of 
the crucifixion should be thus commemorated, rath- 
er than the resurrection. We reply, the sacrificial 
death of Christ is called to mind by " the Lord's 
supper," — an institution which directs us to that 
event only. But it seems much more proper that the 
resurrection should be commemorated by a perma- 
nent monument, such as the weekly Sabbath, as 
that demonstrated his claim as the Messiah of the 
prophets, and consequently proved that he died " a 
sacrifice for sins," by demonstrating that what he 
had taught was true. It is thus the resurrection of 
Christ proves the general judgment. Acts xvii. 30, 
31. Christ himself made the truthfulness of his 
doctrines to depend upon his rising from the dead 
the third day. " The Son of man shall be betrayed 
unto the chief priests and scribes, and they shall 



76 THE SABBATH. 

condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the 
Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify 
him ; and the third day he shall rise again. I lay 
down my life that I might take it again. No man 
taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself; I 
have power to lay it down, and I have power to 
take it again." Had Christ failed to fulfill this pre- 
diction, it would have proved his inability to rise 
from the dead, and that his claim to the Messiah- 
ship was false. He did rise from the dead the third 
day, and thus proved that " This is the bread that 
cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat 
thereof and not die." It is certainly very suitable 
that the great evidence of Christianity should be 
called to mind, — as in the creation, — by the Sab- 
bath institution. 

It is no objection to this, that the Sabbath is de- 
signed to commemorate the work of creation, as the 
time of observing the institution — so long as it 
continues to be a seventh-day rest — does not in- 
terfere with its original designs. The Divine Ex- 
istence, as our Creator, is celebrated — not by an 
unbroken succession of weeks from the creation ■ — 
but by a rest-day of holy time connected with six 
working days. See Gen. ii. 3. Ex. xx. 11. Such 
a day the church has not lost. Neither are the 
other designs of the day interfered with by its 
change of time. Hence, if He who " is Lord of the 
Sabbath" chose to remove this institution one day 



THE 8ABBATH. 77 

forward on time, that it might also call to mind the 
great event of his resurrection in connection with 
that of creation, this is a good and sufficient rea- 
son for so doing. 

And the Sabbath being on the first day of the 
week does not affect the institution itself, neither its 
relations to the preceding six days, as the name 
does not alter the fact that it is still the seventh-day, 
after six days allotted to work. It being put for- 
ward one day brings it on to what w r as, before Christ, 
called the first day of the week ; and so it continues 
to be called the first day, keeping up the old«name. 
But as the Sabbath is still preceded by six working 
days, it still continues to be the seventh-day rest, in 
the count for the Sabbath. It is on the first day of 
the week, according to the Jewish reckoning, but 
on the seventh-day, according to the Christian reck- 
oning. Hence, those who keep the Christian Sab- 
bath are seventh-day people. " Six days shaltthou 
labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is 
the SabrJRth of the Lord thy God. For in six days 
the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all 
that in them is, and rested on the seventh-day; 
wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and 
hallowed it." He blessed the Sabbath as a day of 
sacred rest connected with six working days. This 
is all that is expressed by the word seventh, as used 
in the fourth commandment. And the church has 
such a seventh-day Sabbath. Who can prove the 



78 THE SABBATH. 

contrary ? And as there is abundant evidence that 
this institution was removed on time, when the 
church passed over from the former to the latter 
dispensation, those who keep Saturday as holy time 
are sixth-day people, being on the sixth day of the 
Christian week. They are one day behind the time, 
not having yet passed over on to the Gospel Sab- 
bath. We are the true seventh-day people. 

2. Though the other nine commandments are 
adapted to all dispensations, it is not fully so with 
the fourth, as a commemorative institution, without 
some change in its relation to occurring events. Its 
most prominent feature is its commemorative de^ 
signs, reminding us of our several relations to God, 
and of our obligations to worship him and to ren- 
der to him those services which grow out of these 
relations. Hence it was that, to the more fully 
adapting this feature of the Sabbath to the dispen-/ 
sation of the Jews, it was made to commemorate 
to them their deliverance from their bondage in 
Egypt. See Deut. v. 15. And hence they began 
their work, or the count for their seventh-day rest, 
on the day of the first giving of the manna. Ex. 
xvi. 21-23. And thus the Sabbath celebrated the 
great and astonishing miracles by which they were 
brought out of Egypt, and for forty years sustain- 
ed in the wilderness by bread from heaven ! This 
gave an additional interest to the Sabbath during 
the Jewish economy. 



THE SABBATH. 79 

And can we fail to see the propriety of adapting 
this leading feature of the Sabbath to the Gospel 
dispensation by making it celebrate the greatest 
and the most merciful of all the works of God, — 
the great work of human redemption through the 
sacrifice of his Son ? Nor can we see any more 
suitable way of doing this than by removing the 
Sabbath institution on to the day on which Christ 
demonstrated the divine origin of his mission, and 
his own divinity, by rising from the dead ! — the 
great miracle — and having for its object the great 
end ! There is a fitness in thus adapting the holy 
Sabbath to the Gospel age; as thus it continues its 
commemorative designs as a Gospel institution. 

3. Placing the Sabbath of the church on the day 
of the resurrection, has vastly increased its impor- 
tance as an institution. In addition to its pres- 
ent advantages, it now reminds us of the world's 
Redeemer, as the evidence of our own resurrection 
and future being; and of the truthfulness of the 
gospel, its doctrines, promises, and precepts. It is 
now really and fully a gospel institution. And 
there is n^w no institution possessing the interest 
of the Christianized Sabbath. And none, w T hen 
rightly understood and suitably observed, is so ad- 
vantageous to society in general. It is connected 
with every doctrine and interest of Christianity. 
With what pleasure must every pious and enlight- 
ened Christian keep such an institution ! But Sab- 



80 THE SABBATH. 

b atari anism rejects the Sabbath as a Christianized 
institution, and continues to keep it in view of its 
former designs only. Indeed, it has less interest 
with a Sabbatarian than it had with a Jew. And 
by thus separating the Sabbath from its Gospel de- 
sigus, as a commemorative ordinance, it greatly les- 
sens its value, and injures Christianity. Undue 
stress is put upon its time of observance, while some 
of its noblest designs are rejected. The increased 
value of the Sabbath is another good reason for the 
change of its time. 

4. "When the Gospel dispensation commenced, 
the preceding one eaded. The ceremonial ordi- 
nances, types, and shadows, together with their 
church organization, had done their work, and they 
were legally dead. But they were blindly and will- 
fully kept up, and that, too, in opposition to Chris- 
tianity. The Sabbath of the moral law was now 
found in bad company, and it was badly kept. And 
moreover the Jews, as a nation, were soon to be 
deeply disgraced by the most fearful judgments of 
Heaven, " to be removed into all the kingdoms of 
the earth for their hurt ; a taunt, and a curse, in all 
places whither God should drive them. And in 
this general ruin the Sabbath would be degraded, 
and its designs misunderstood, by its connection 
with such a people and such abrogated institutions. 
It seems to have been absolutely necessary to re- 
move the seventh-day Sabbath on to new ground ; 



THE SAEBATH. 81 

to exhibit it as a portion of the moral law, distinct 
from the Jewish ceremonial laws, and disconnected 
with circumstances calculated to destroy its influ- 
ence, and thereby preserve the institution, and crown 
it with Gospel glory. 

5. The observance of the Sabbath on the same 
time with the Jews, and with no additional interest 
connected with the day as a Gospel institution, 
would have made a connecting link between that 
rejected nation and the Gospel church — now two 
distinct bodies. It was found very difficult to break 
off the converts from Judaism to Christianity, from 
their abrogated services and national prejudices. It 
became necessary, so far as possible, to separate the 
living from the dead body. Eemoving the Sabbath 
upon new time — and especially if upon the day of 
the resurrection of their Savior — would create a 
rallying point for the converts from all nations, and 
tend to union among them as Christians, and. ope- 
rate to weaken their old prejudices. Though many 
of the converts from among the Jews continued to 
observe their old Sabbath, yet all kept the Christian 
Sabbath. This must have greatly strengthened 
Christianity, by promoting Christian union. 

Taking all things into account, the change we de- 
fend appears not only reasonable but necessary; 
and just as one, knowing beforehand the circum- 
stances requiring it, might have expected. And it 

would seem to be strange if the change had-not been 

4* 



82 THE SABBATH. 

made. And more especially, as the most prominent 
characteristic of the Sabbath is its commemorative 
designs. It is certainly the most natural to suppose 
that, in some way, it would, as a Gospel institution, 
be made to celebrate the great work of redemp" 
tion. "We conclude then, that, as by the change 
the Sabbath loses none of its former advantages, and 
the change is harmless, and no scripture requires 
us to keep Sabbath time on the same day of the 
Jews, and it adds greatly to the interests of the day, 
that this change is reasonable. A doctrine is reas- 
onable when there is no valid objection against it, 
and its tendency is to usefulness — when there is a 
fitness in the thing, as in this case. 

6. But what gives yet increasing interest to the 
Ohristianization of the Sabbath, is the fact that the 
removing of it on to the day of Christ's resurrec- 
tion makes it celebrate also the gift of the Holy 
Ghost in its Gospel influences, by which was brought 
to the recollections of the Apostles what Christ had 
said to them ; and they were taught their duties, 
were qualified and authorized to preach the Gospel, 
organize the Christian church, and to administer its 
ordinances; and by which they were inspired to 
write the New Testament. The events of the Day 
of Pentecost are of vast interest, and inseparably 
connected with the resurrection, and predicted of 
Christ as consequent upon it. Said Christ, " It is 
expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not 



THE SABBATH. 83 

away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
if I depart, I will send him unto you." " Howbeit 
when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide 
you into all truth." And after His resurrection He 
said, " Thus it is written, and thus it behooved 
Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third 
day : and that repentance and remission of sins 
should be preached among all nations, beginning at 
Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things. 
And behold, I send the promise of the Father upon 
you : but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye 
be endued with power from on high." " And be- 
ing assembled together with them, commanded them 
that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but 
wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith He, 
ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized 
with water ; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy 
Ghost not many days hence." And while tarrying 
in the city, " all with one accord in one place, sud- 
denly there came a sound from heaven as of a rush- 
ing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where 
they were sitting. And they were all filled with 
the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with tongues, 
as the Spirit gave them utterance." And Peter ex- 
plained, by saying, " This Jesus hath God raised 
up, w 7 hereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being 
by the right hand of God exalted, and having re- 
ceived of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, 
He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." 



84 THE SABBATH. 

And having listened to the explanatory discourse, 
" They that gladly received the word were baptiz- 
ed." Eeceived the Christian baptism. " And the 
same day there were added to them about three 
thousand souls." Thus we learn that, to commem- 
orate Christ's resurrection is to celebrate all those 
events connected with the beginning of the Gospel 
church, as consequent upon His rising. The Savior 
taught that He should rise from the dead the third 
day ; and that as a consequence of His resurrection 
and ascension to heaven, He should send down the 
Holy Spirit for the important purposes referred to. 
These events are inseparably connected. 

His resurrection demonstrated his claim to the 
office of the Messiah of the prophets,— and His send- 
ing down the promised Comforter, proved that He 
had ascended to heaven; "there to appear in the 
presence of God for us." Thus these two extraor- 
dinary miracles united in one great demonstration 
of the truth of the gospel of Christ ! And what is 
more natural and reasonable than that these extra- 
ordinary facts, so vital to the establishment and fu- 
ture success of the Christian religion, should be com- 
memorated by the seventh-day Sabbath, as are 
other great events ? And what more suitable monu- 
ment for this grand purpose ? By the " Lord's Sup- 
per," we express our faith in the sacrificial death of 
Christ. But by the observance of the Christianized 
Sabbath, we commemorate the great miracles by 



THE SABBATH. 85 

which Christ proved the divinity of His mission, and 
manifested His infinite authority; and also cele- 
brate the origin of the Gospel church and its ordi- 
nances. The Christian Sabbath is truly a great 
day. 

But if the Savior of the world not only rose from 
the dead on the first day of the week, but also sent 
down the Holy Spirit, for its gospel purposes, on 
this day, there is an increased propriety in celebrat- 
ing this day by the Sabbath institution. And as 
some writers of note have doubted if the day of 
Pentecost. w x as on the first day of the week, let us 
see if we can make out the proof of the certainty of 
this interesting fact. 

It is certain that if Christ did % eat the passover 
the year he was crucified, he must have eaten it on 
Thursday evening; as on Friday he was in the 
hands of His enemies ; and at three o'clock he died. 

It is certain that on Thursday he did prepare for 
the passover. Matt. xxvi. 17-19. Mark xiv. 12- 
16. Luke xxii. 7-20. But some suppose that, in- 
stead of eating the passover, he instituted, and sub- 
stituted in its place, the Lord's Supper. Either this 
was the fourteenth day of the month, or the Savior, 
as Lord of the Passover, prepared for it on the thir- 
teenth day ; and at the same time instituted, and 
ate with His disciples, the Lord's Supper. 

But it is certain that this year, the Jews did hold 
their Passover on Friday. Anciently the Jews be- 



86 THE SABBATH. 

gan their months in which their great feasts were 
held, at the new moons. And they did not do this 
with astronomical exactness. When the new moon 
was not seen on the first day, they added a day to 
the previous month ; making the fourteenth day of 
the month a day later. But whatever was the rea- 
son that Christ and His disciples prepared their 
passover on Thursday, it is certain that, this year, 
the time of the Passover of the Jews was on Fri- 
day. And hence that the first of the seven days of 
unleavened bread that followed the Passover was 
on Saturday, — the Jewish Sabbath. Christ was 
arrested on Thursday evening, after dark, and par- 
tially examined ; and His trial resumed the next 
morning. On this Friday morning, it w T as said of 
the leaders of the Jews, that " then led they Jesus 
from Caiaphas unto the Hall of Judgment; and 
they themselves went not into the Judgment-Hall, 
lest they should be defiled ; but that they might eat 
the Passover." On this morning they had not eaten 
the Passover. PJohn xvii. 28-31. Matt, xxvii. 
1, 2, And during the trial it is said, " it was the 
preparation of the Passover ; and about the sixth 
hour." That is, about noon ; the time to prepare 
for the Passover in the evening. John xix. 13, 14. 
" The Jews, therefore, because it was the prepara- 
tion, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross 
on the Sabbath-day (for the Sabbath-day was a 
high day), besought Pilate that their legs might be 



THE SABBATH. 87 

broken, and that they might be taken away." John 
six. 31. This Sabbath, being the day after the 
Passover lamb Was eaten, was the day on which 
the Jews celebrated their departure from Egypt ; 
— and which this year happened to come on the 
seventh-day Sabbath. Hence this Sabbath was a 
high day. It was a great day with the Jews. And 
on whatever day it happened, it was called a Sab- 
bath, or rest-day ; because " no servile work" w T as 
done on that day. So that there can be no doubt 
that, this year, the Jews had their Passover on Fri- 
day. And on the Passover day, Pilate was accus- 
tomed to release to them a prisoner, whom they de- 
sired; and this prisoner was released on Friday. 
See Mark xv. 6-15. 

The Passover of the Jews began on the evening 
of the fourteenth of the month. This was properly 
the Passover day ; as on the evening of this day the 
Passover lamb was killed and eaten. Ex. xii. 6, 
14, 15. But the solemnities continued seven days 
after this ; during which they ate unleavened bread. 
On the first and last of these seven days, no servile 
work was done. And although the whole was con- 
sidered as Passover time, and each day had its serv- 
ices, yet the fifteenth day of the month was a day 
of peculiar solemnities and rejoicings. Num. xxviii. 
16-25. And the second day of the Passover, this 
fifteenth day of the month, — -the day on which the 
Jews left Egypt,— being the great day of the feast, 



88 THE SABBATH. 

was therefore often called the Passover ; and the 
fourteenth day called the preparation day. Ex. xii. 
17. Lev. xxiii. 6, 7. Matt, xxvii. 62. John xix. 
31. This high day was one of great interest to the 
Israelites. It celebrated their departure from a long 
and severe servitude; and also the beginning of 
their national existence. They went down into 
Egypt a family of seventy persons ; and came out 
of their bondage, a nation of, probably, two and a 
half millions ! 

After the Israelites came into Canaan, they were 
to bring to the Passover feast a sheaf of grain, 
which the priest was to wave before the Lord, by 
way of acknowledging Him as the God of the har- 
vest. The sheaf was to be waved the day after the 
great Sabbath of the feast, that is, on the six- 
teenth day of the month. "And he shall wave the 
sheaf before the Lord, to be accepted for you ; on 
the morrow after the Sabbath the priest shall wave 
it." Lev. xxiii. 11. "Writers agree that the fif- 
teenth day of the month was the great day of the 
Passover, called the Sabbath ; and that the sheaf 
was waved the next day. The learned T. H. Horn, 
in his Introduction to the study of the Bible, says, 
" The Jews were prohibited from gathering in the 
harvest until they had offered to Grod the omer, that 
is, the sheaf, which was presented the day after the 
great day of unleavened bread." And he tells us, 
" The appellation Passover belonged more especial- 



THE SABBATH. 89 

ly to the second day of the feast, viz : the fifteenth 
day of the month Nisan." And that, "the day of 
Pentecost was celebrated the fiftieth day after the 
first day of unleavened bread." 

The Pentecost was fifty days after the Passover. 
The w T ord Pentecost signifies fiftieth. There were 
seven weeks — forty-nine days — between the two 
feasts. And the count for the fiftieth day, the day 
of Pentecost, was to begin on the day the sheaf was 
waved, that is, the day after the great day of the 
feast, called a Sabbath. Here is the law. " Ye 
shall count unto you from the morrow after the 
Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of 
the wave offering; seven Sabbaths shall be com- 
plete ; even unto the morrow after the seventh Sab- 
bath shall ye number fifty days ; and ye shall offer 
a new meal offering unto the Lord." Lev. xxiii. 
15, 16. In the Old Testament the term Sabbath is 
sometimes used to signify weeks ; because the Sab- 
bath measures off the w T eeks. The Pentecost com- 
memorated the giving of the law, and celebrated 
the harvest, as the gift of Grod. 

Now it so happened, or, the Lord so ordered it, 
that the year Christ was crucified, this great day, 
or Sabbath of the Passover, came on the seventh- 
day Sabbath. And consequently, this year, the 
sheaf was waved the first day of the week ; which 
brought the fiftieth day — the day of Pentecost — on 
the first day of the week — which is the Christian 



90 THE SABBATH. 

Sabbath. So that whether, in Lev. xxiii. 15, 16, 
is meant the seventh-day Sabbath, or the great day 
of the Passover which was called a Sabbath, it mat- 
ters not; as this year, these Sabbaths both came on 
the same day. Now, beginning on the first day of 
the week, and counting forty-nine, — the next day is 
the fiftieth, — the Pentecost day, — the first day of 
the week, — the Christianized Sabbath ! This is quite 
plain. 

Christ -made the truth of His claim, as the Mes- 
siah, to depend upon His resurrection "on the third 
day ;" and a belief in His ascension to Heaven, to 
rest upon the descent of the Holy Ghost, "not many 
days hence." These were the two great evidences 
of Christianity. Had these failed, all the others 
would have been unavailing. The first demonstrate 
ed that He was the Messiah of the Old Testament ; 
and the second gave His disciples to know that He 
had ascended to Heaven, These two great mira- 
cles united in a remarkable manner to produce con- 
viction of the truth of the Gospel of Christ. And 
it inspired the Apostles with perfect confidence in 
Christ, as the promised Messiah ; and gave them 
full reliance on His great promise, "Lo, I am with 
you alway, even unto the end of the world." 

Thus has its Christianization increased the inter- 
est of this institution. On the first day of the week, 
Christ rose from the dead ; and on the first day of 
the week, He sent the promised Comforter. And 



THE SABBATH. 91 

on this first day, the Gospel dispensation commenc- 
ed. On this day of the week, the Apostles were 
qualified and authorized to preach — in His true 
character, offices and work — the Savior of the 
world ! and also to organize the Gospel Church, 
and to administer its sacraments. And on this day, 
was the first Gospel revival ; and the first adminis- 
tration of the Christian baptism. And on this first 
day were gathered into the new church the first 
fruits of the Apostles' labors, as enlightened gospel 
ministers. On the first day of the week, was laid 
the foundation of the church of the world's last dis- 
pensation ! differing so widely, in its external forms, 
from all previous dispensations ! 

And now they had a full demonstration of the 
truthfulness of the prophets ; and a practical expla- 
nation of many of the prophecies which related to 
Christ. Old things had passed away; — and what a 
wonderful newness had come over everything! 
And is it a wonder that the Lord of the Sabbath 
should Christianize the seventh-day sacred time, 
by removing it on to the ground where it commem- 
orates the two great evidences of His claim to His 
office as Messiah ? — and is thus an occasion of call- 
ing to our minds the ever-to-be-remembered events 
connected with, and consequent upon, His resurrec- 
tion and His ascension to Heaven ? And especially 
as He did this, without diverting it from its former 
designs, or changing its character as a seventh-day 



92 THE SABBATH. 

Sabbath. What pleasant and glorious thoughts 
cluster around the Christian Sabbath ! These, of 
themselves, make the day sacred ! And how vast- 
ly important the seventh-day Sabbath, held upon 
the first day, when we consider its Christian advan- 
tages, as additional to all its former interests ! 

And it wpuld have been mysteriously strange if 
no institution had been appointed, by which to com- 
memorate and celebrate the stupendous miracles by 
which Christianity was first established ; and up- 
on which Christ and His Apostles based their au- 
thority for preaching the doctrines of the New Tes- 
tament ; and for annulling the burdensome cere- 
monials of all past ages; and for substituting in 
their stead, the simple, but significant rites of the 
gospel ! And we have abundantly shown that no- 
thing can be more suitable to this important end, 
than the monumental institution of the seventh-day 
Sabbath, removed upon the first day of the week, 
for this purpose, — constituting it the great and 
blessed day, with which the happiness and interests 
of all other days is connected by the subjects it 
commemorates, and the moral influences which go 
out from it. 

This intermediate dispensation of seven weeks, 
between the resurrection, and the descent of the 
Holy Spirit, appears to have been very necessary. 
During this interim, the Savior had an opportunity 
to correct many false notions of His disciples, and 



THE SABBATH. 93 

to give them many necessary instructions ; and also 
to give them full proof of His resurrection. It also 
gave His disciples time to look around them, and to 
reflect upon what had passed ; tad thus prepare 
them for the future. And this seven weeks also 
gave His enemies full time to investigate the sub- 
ject of the resurrection, character, miracles, and 
doctrines of Christ. And the people were prepar- 
ed — as well as they could be — for the interesting 
events w 7 hich w r ere to follow. To effect these ends, 
Christ " showed Himself alive after His passion, by 
many infallible proofs, being se'en of them forty days, 
and speaking of the things pertaining to the king- 
dom of God." And to direct their attention to the 
necessary qualifications for their future w T ork, Christ 
re-affirmed His promise of the Spirit ; for the ful- 
fillment of which the Apostles were to wait in Jeru- 
salem. 

At the resurrection, Christ had finished His great 
sacrifice for the sins of the world. Hence the types, 
shadows, and ceremonials of the past four thousand 
years, pointing to this great event, had accomplish- 
ed their ends, — fulfilled their designs ; — and hav- 
ing no antitype to represent, or point to, they were 
legally dead.' But as the promised Holy Ghost 
was not yet given, in its offices and influences, adapt- 
ed to the last dispensation, the gospel age had not 
yet commenced. The Apostles were not yet quali- 
fied to explain the Gospel doctrines, to organize the 



94 THE SABBATH. 

Gospel church, or to administer the Gospel sacra- 
ments. 

The world had never witnessed a time of such 
heart-stirring interest as in this week of weeks ! 
The four thousand years of prophets and typical 
priests were now retiring, with their burden of shad- 
ows and ceremonials ; — but seemed to linger, as 
though uncertain whether their work was done. The 
dispensation of truth fully explained, was approach- 
ing, — but paused for instructions and authority to 
commence its w x ork. The Jews had long expected 
the Messiah ; — one had appeared who so perfectly 
answered the description of the prophets, they could 
not disprove His claim. And yet they had reject- 
ed Him, — and crucified Him as an impostor ! He 
had said He should rise from the dead the third 
day. A Eoman guard, selected by the priests 
themselves, had testified that He had risen. Heav- 
en had witnessed for Christ in three hours of su- 
pernatural darkness, over all the land ; and an earth- 
quake had shaken the world, and even rent the 
rocks. And as He died, the vail of the temple was 
rent from the top to the bottom. Christ was fre- 
quently meeting His disciples, — and at one time 
met with a company of five hundred of them. And 
His enemies could not have forgotten His numer- 
ous and stupendous miracles, during His ministry. 
If Christ was really risen, they had " killed the 
Prince of Life !" 



THE SABBATH. 95 

Nor was it a time of less exciting interest to the 
disciples. "Was their Master the Christ of the 
prophets ? If not, how could they account for the ex- 
traordinary events which had transpired ? They 
could not doubt that they had seen Christ during his 
life, and witnessed his miracles ; neither that they had 
seen the same Christ arrested, tried, and crucified. 
And most certainly they had seen him since his re- 
ported resurrection. He had promised them that, 
if he went away, he would send them the Spirit of 
truth, which should teach them all things necessary 
to them, as the ministers of his religion. And for 
this he had directed them to wait in the city. But 
as yet, all was mystery to them. They had faith 
enough to obey this direction of Christ, but fears 
enough to greatly perplex them. This was an event- 
ful seven weeks, and of vast interest to all men. 
The two great demonstrations then given that the 
Christ of the Christians is the Messiah of the Old 
Testament, — the predicted resurrection and the 
promised gift of the Holy Spirit, for the purposes, 
named; the great change in the external forms 
of the church of God; the rejection of the old 
church organization, and the formation of the new ; 
and the commencement of the world's last dispen- 
sation of grace, with advantages exceeding any 
former age, "to the Jew first, and also to the 
Gentile," make it an eventful week. 

Now as God had been accustomed to call to the 



96 THE SABBATH. 

minds of the people important events of past his- 
tory, by commemorative monuments and institu- 
tions, it would have been passing strange if he had 
not perpetuated the memory of the events connect- 
ed with these eventful seven weeks, by some valua- 
ble institution, w T hich should keep them continually 
before our minds, and which should be continued 
through time. And what more suitable monument 
then the seventh-day Sabbath ? an institution that 
serves so many other valuable purposes, and hence 
is not likely to be discontinued while Christianity 
exists. 

We have most certainly demonstrated the fact 
and the reasonableness of the removal of the Sab- 
bath-week one day forward on time, by showing 
that this change does not affect its past designs, and 
that there are great and important reasons for such 
a change, and that there is no scriptural objection 
to it. And also, by showing the impossibility that 
the change of Sabbath-time could have been effect- 
ed in the first three centuries after the Apostles, or 
at any time since then. And also by reference to 
history, which abundantly established the fact that, 
from the origin of the Gospel church it has kept its 
Sabbath on its present succession of weeks, and 
that as commemorative of the resurrection of Christ 
and the associate events. 

Against all this there is not a shadow of an ar- 
gument, unless it can be proved that the Sabbath 



THE SABBATH. 97 

must be kept upon an unbroken succession of weeks 
from the creation, through time, and there can be 
shown a reliable chronological record of weeks, 
from the first Sabbath to the coming of Christ, to 
enable us to keep on such succession, neither of which 
can be done. 

Upon which day Christ and his followers kept 
the Sabbath during this seven weeks' preparatory- 
dispensation, is of very little interest to the argu- 
gument. It cannot, however, be proved that they 
kept the Jewish Sabbath during this time. Christ 
meeting his disciples on the day he rose, proves 
nothing on this point. But his meeting them again 
" after eight days," seems to look towards that as 
Sabbath-time, as the phrase, eighth day, was used 
to signify, after the eighth day had commenced. 
It was said to Pilate, " We remember that that de- 
ceiver, while he was yet alive, said, After three days 
I will rise again." That is, after the third day com- 
menced, counting the day Christ died. We are 
told that the women who were at the burial of 
Christ, on Friday, returned " and rested on the Sab- 
bath according to the commandment." We answer, 
on that Sabbath Christ had not risen, and, of course, 
had not then changed the day. It is said, " Christ 
traveled fourteen miles the day he rose from the 
dead." But it is not the traveling that violates the 

Sabbath, but the object of the traveling. TTnex- 

5 



98 THE SABBATH. 

pectedly to his disciples, Christ had been pat to 
death. They were in distress, and also in danger 
of forsaking him. Hence he hastened to inform 
two of them on the way to Emmaus, of the import- 
ant fact that he had risen, and to explain to them 
the prophecies which related to what had past. He 
thea hastened back to Jerusalem, to demonstrate 
to - • the eleven gathered together, and them that 
were with them," that he was risen from the dead, 
in agreement of his promise ; and to " open their 
understandings, that they might understand the 
scriptures." This was Sabbath work, both of piety 
and of mercy. 

But which day was holy time, after the Christian 
dispensation began, and the Christian church was 
organized, and the Christian Sabbath needed ? Sab- 
batarians tell us the day could not have been chang- 
ed after this, because St. Paul said, " I have com- 
mitted nothing against the people or customs of the 
fathers," and hence he could not have kept Sabbath 
on a different day from the Jews. But this con- 
struction of the Apostle's words makes him tell a 
falsehood, as he had both preached and practiced 
against Judaism. But he had committed no offense 
for which they had a right to punish or arrest him. 
It is also said the seventh-day was called the Sab- 
bath, both by Jews and Gentiles. So it was. And 
what else should they have called it, when among the 



THE SABBATH. 99 

N, 

Jews or when speaking of their sacred day ? This 
was the name by which it was known. And be- 
sides, the Christian Sabbath, to distinguish it from 
that of the Jews, was called the first day, the eighth 
day, and the Lord's day. We are told, also, that 
the Apostles preached to the people on this day, 
called the Sabbath. But the Apostles preaching 
to the congregations collected on the Jewish Sab- 
bath, no more proves them Sabbatarians, than would 
a Sabbatarian now adopt the Christian Sabbath by 
preaching to a congregation collected on Sunday. 
But the single fact that, " Upon the first day of the 
.week, when the disciples were come together to 
break bread, Paul preached to them," has more 
proof in it that this was Sabbath time, than have 
all the objections raised against the Christian Sab- 
bath, as opposed to the Saturday Sabbath. 

But we are asked, why did not the Jews com- 
plain of the Christians for changing the day, if the 
change was made by the Savior or his Apostles ? 
We answer, with a thousand times more propriety 
we ask, why is there no complaint if the change 
was made centuries after this, when we have abund- 
ant means of knowing it, if it was made ; especial- 
ly if done by emperors, kings, priests, or councils ? 
Why did no one complain of these ? Where wefe, 
not only the Jews, but where were all the Sabbata- 
rian Christians when this change was effected, if 



100 THE SABBATH. 

made ? When this change was made, whether sud- 
den .or gradual, how did it happen that no " seven- 
day people" were in the church to oppose such an 
inroad upon the ten commandments? From the 
Apostles to the fourth century, there were not a 
few writers upon church affairs, most of whom are 
now lost. But ecclesiastical writers and historians, 
whose writings have come down to us, refer to these 
on a variety of subjects ; but no one mentions any 
controversy on this subject, or tells us that the 
Christian church were keeping Sabbath on a differ- 
ent day from the Apostles. And this dead silence 
on the part of Sabbatarians (if any then lived), is 
the more strange, as great numbers of the converts 
from Judaism, while they kept the Christian Sab- 
bath, continued, for a considerable time, to observe 
the Jewish Sabbath also, and without assigning as 
a reason for so doing that the church had, without 
divine authority, changed the day. "Why did not these 
converts (if Sabbatarians) contend that the seventh 
day must be on an unbroken succession of seventh 
days from the first seventh day ? Nothing like this 
is heard of among the early Christians. The fair 
supposition is, that in those times no Sabbatarian 
Christians lived. The doctrine is a modern inven- 
tion. 

But to the question, why did not the Jews op- 
pose this change, if made at the origin of the Gos- 



THE SABBATH. 101 

pel church ? We answer, because they did not be- 
lieve modern Sabbatarianism. They never claimed 
to be on an unbroken succession of Sabbaths. And 
a large portion of the Jews who joined the Chris- 
tians, continued to observe their old Sabbath, being 
inclined to connect some portions of Judaism with 
Christianity. And the Jews could not find much 
fault, so long as their own day was respected, by 
those who had been Jews. And it is probable that 
the Jews well understood that if Christ did rise 
from the dead and ascend to heaven, as he repeat- 
edly had asserted he should, the miracles and won- 
ders of the day of Pentecost were done by his 
agency, in agreement with his promise to send the 
Spirit, and that his religion was true. Hence, the 
Jews did not oppose Christian baptism or the Lord's 
Supper, though these were appointed instead of 
Jewish institutions. But the Christian Sabbath 
was not a substitute for any Jewish ceremonies, but 
only a Christianization of* the old Sabbath. Had 
it been understood that Christ or his Apostles had 
repealed the fourth commandment, we should have 
heard of opposition from the Jews to this act, and 
not a little of it. But this was not done, though 
the time of keeping Sabbath was changed. 

WHAT PROOF HAVE SABBATARIANS OF THE TRUTH OF 
THEIR DOCTRINES? 

The doctrine rests upon one proposition, viz : that 



102 THE SABBATH. 

the true Sabbath is on an unbroken succession of 
weeks from the creation until now ; and hence that 
the body of the church, being off this succes- 
sion, do not keep the fourth commandment. And 
this is true if their theory of Sabbath time is true. 
And this places them, or their opponents, in an awk- 
ward position ! Now, which party is on the Bible 
succession ? In other words, which keep the fourth 
commandment ? This is a question of no small in- 
terest. Every one can see that if the proposition 
stated as the foundation of Sabbatarianism is not 
true, no other arguments can prove that the seventh- 
day Sabbath should be kept on Saturday. And 
to make out the truth of this position, two things 
must be done. There must be shown a chronolog- 
ical list of weeks from the creation to the time of 
Christ ; and it must be proved that we are required 
to keep Sabbath on that list, continued through 
time. If such a count of weeks cannot be made 
out, it is absurd to suppose we are to follow such a 
rule. But if such a list of weeks could be found, 
or it could be proved that the Jews, at the time of 
Christ, were on such a count of weeks, this would 
by no means prove that the true Sabbath is not off 
such a succession, or that the Lord has not, more 
than once, changed the Sabbath succession. But 
as neither of these points can be made out, Sabba- 
tarians must be without foundation. It is mere 



THE SABBATH. 103 

sophistry to say, " We suppose the Jews were on 
such a count of weeks." And equally sophistical 
to suppose that the word seventh, as connected with 
the Sabbath, implies that it must be on an uninter- 
rupted succession from the first rest day. These 
mere suppositions are of very little weight, and es- 
pecially against the numerous arguments and plain 
reasonings in support of Sabbath time on the res- 
urrection day. "We may rest assured that the Sab- 
batarians are off the track, out of the true suc- 
cession, and that the church is on the apostolic 
succession of w^eeks. 

All agree that during the former dispensation 
there were two periods, at least, during which the 
Sabbath succession was broken up. "While the 
Israelites were in bondage in Egypt, under heathen 
kings, they could not have kept the Sabbath. But 
as soon as they were liberated they re-commenced 
it. And they appear to have begun their reckon- 
ing for weeks on the day God began to " rain bread 
from heaven" for them. And although the Sab- 
bath is heve mentioned as a previously existing in- 
stitution and of divine authority, yet is there no 
mention of the succession doctrine, as there proba- 
bly would have been had Moses been a Sabbatari- 
an. A few weeks after this, the moral law T was pro- 
claimed from Sinai, the fourth section of which was 
the Sabbath law. But nothing is here heard of the 



104 THE SABBATH. 

Sabbatarian succession. The word seventh, twice 
used in the fourth commandment, does not teach or 
imply such a doctrine, but is explained to signify a 
week, having six working days and one of sacred 
rest, making the seventh. Nothing more. And 
during the seventy years' captivity in Babylon, it 
does not appear that the Sabbath was observed, or 
could have been most of the time by the Jews as a 
nation. On their return from bondage to their civil 
privileges, they immediately re-established the Sab- 
bath, but without any allusion to the unbroken suc- 
cession. Nor is there the least proof that Moses, 
any other prophet, or any one before Christ, ever 
taught such a doctrine. No, or that Christ or 
his Apostles ever heard of it. If there could have 
been no Sabbath of holy time off such a succes- 
sion, not only would Prophets and Apostles have 
mentioned this Sabbath, but we should have had a 
record of the number of weeks from the creation 
down, and we should have been cautioned to keep 
on this correct count. Why was not this subject 
mentioned at the appointment of the first Sabbath, 
at the exodus out of Egypt — the return from Bab- 
ylon — and above all, when the great changes were 
made as the church passed from the Old Testament 
Dispensation to that of the New Testament ? The 
Bible affords no evidence in support of the Sabba- 
tarian doctrine as opposed to the Christianized Sab- 
bath. 



THE SABBATH. 105 

"While Christ was in the grave, the Jews* spent 
their last Sabbath in devising means to prove him 
a false prophet and an impostor, and to destroy 
Christianity. And it was to them, as they supposed, 
a day of complete victory over Christ, and of re- 
joicing that they had rid themselves and the world 
of Jesus of Nazareth and of his doctrines. It was 
on this day that ." the chief priests and Pharisees 
came to Pilate" to procure a Roman guard. And 
when they had " made his sepulcher sure, sealing 
the stone and setting a watch," they doubtless felt 
quite secure of keeping Christ in his tomb, and of 
ending his kingdom. On this seventh day the ene- 
mies of Christ finished their victory over him, and 
rejoiced in the disgrace of his cause. They had 
now shut up the Master in the grave and dispersed 
his apparently timid followers, and to human ap- 
pearance ruined Christianity beyond recovery. And 
this seventh day, being thus d'sgraced, justly de- 
served to be put out of the succession, and another 
seventh day substituted. This was the last Sab- 
bath legally connected with the Jewish ceremoni- 
als. 

But on the next day, the first day of the week, 
the Prince of Life rolled off this reproach, and 
took the victory into his own hands by rising from 
the dead, and sending back to the chief priests and 
Pharisees their own affrighted guard with the re- 

5* 



106 THE SABBATH. 

port tff the fulfillment of his own prediction that he 
would rise from the the dead on the third day. And 
it is certainly very natural that Christ should re- 
move the Sabbath institution off a day thus dis- 
honored and profaned, on to a day thus honored 
and glorified, and made sacred to the memory of all 
Christians ! And it is very proper that the Sabbath 
should commemorate the day on which Christianity 
was victorious, instead of perpetuating the memory 
of a day on which the victory was apparently on 
the side of its enemies. The Sabbath is not to be 
a day of sadness and of mourning, as though Christ 
was in the grave and his enemies triumphant, and 
our faith in the Savior's Divinity trembling with 
fear, but a day of rejoicing in Christ risen and as- 
cended to heaven ! And also in " the comforts of 
the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven," and still 
continuing with his church, witnessing to us that 
Christ did thus rise and ascend to heaven, and still 
continues our great High Priest. " He that believ- 
eth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself." 
"And hereby we know that he abideth in us by the 
Spirit which he hath given us." 

The Lord did not bless and sanctify the first Sab- 
bath because it was the seventh day from the be- 
ginning of the creation, but because He rested on 
this day. That is, because it was the next day after 
the work of creation was finished. " God blessed 



THE SABBATH. 107 

the seventh day, and sanctified it ; because that in 
it He had rested from all His work which God cre- 
ated and made." If the day after the creation had 
been made sacred time, merely because it was the 
seventh day after the beginning of the work, there 
could have been but one seventh-day Sabbath. The 
next would have been the fourteenth-day Sabbath, 
and the next the twenty-first-day Sabbath, and so 
on. And counting fifty-two weeks in the year, at 
the end of four thousand years it would have been 
the two hundred and eight thousandth Sabbath. 
But the word seventh only refers us back to the be- 
ginning of the six working days. " Six days shalt 
thou labor, and do all thy work ; but the seventh 
day is the Sabbath." On this principle of count we 
can have a continued course of seventh-day Sab- 
baths. But it proves nothing in relation to the un- 
broken succession from the creation. The word 
seventh does not prove that doctrine. If the Sab- 
bath succession is broken up by the apostacy of the 
church, or by divine Providence, or if God see fit 
to change the succession, the institution is not affect- 
ed as a seventh-day Sabbath, by re-commencing it 
on any day indicated as most suitable, by any event 
in Providence, or as directed by divine inspiration. 
It is still, in its new succession, the same seventh-day 
Sabbath institution ; and it serves all its previous 
purposes. The institution is one thing, and the day 



108 THE SABBATH. 

upon which it is observed is quite another thing. 

But the scriptures represent, and the signs of the 
times indicate, that the seventh-day Sabbath suc- 
cession will not again be interrupted, or the present 
services and ordinances of Christianity cease, until 
this last dispensation of the world's probation closes, 
and God, the Judge of all, shall reckon with men 
of all dispensations, for the use they have made of 
the commandments, the days, the institutions, and 
the ordinances of His word. And how great the 
advantages secured to us, by a suitable use of the 
noble grant of the fifty-two Christianized Sabbaths 
each year! What vast moral improvement did 
Heaven design we should make — both as individ- 
uals, and in society, in church, and in state — - by an 
institution which, once in seven days, calls to our 
attention so many important and deeply interesting 
relations which we hold to the Father, to the Son, 
and to the Holy Spirit ! — days in which center so 
many agencies for good ! Blessed and sanctified 
time, in deed and in truth ! Why not look well to 
its grand designs ? 

There is another view of this subject, of import- 
ance. 

The God of creation and the Author of the Bi- 
ble has so arranged the laws of nature, and so word- 
ed the fourth commandment that they harmonize, 
and in this harmony refute Sabbatarianism, by bus- 



THE SABBATH. 109 

taining the distinction between the Sabbath as an 
institution, and the time upon which it is observed. 
And this distinction meets also the objection of 
skeptics against the possibility of keeping Sabbath 
each seventh day on every part of the globe. And 
the arguments and illustrations we are about to 
state, are of great importance to this subject. 

While we have the sun, and are having our Sab- 
bath services, those on the opposite side of the earth 
to us have no sun, but they are having their hours 
for sleep. Our midday is their midnight. Hence 
all cannot observe this institution on the same time. 
As men travel or emigrate west, their days begin at 
a later hour ; and as they travel east, their days be- 
gin at an earlier hour. So that there is necessarily 
one night between the Sabbath of our antipodes and 
our rest-day. As their twenty-four hours day is 
always one-half off our twenty-four hours day, 
and their night is while we have our daylight, our 
sunrise is their sunset, and when our sun sets, theirs 
rises. Now, which of these two days is on the Sab- 
batarian succession ? Which the one God blessed 
and hallowed ? In the " Advent and Sabbath 
Tracts, No. 3," we have the following answer to 
this question : " The Sabbath law requires the ob- 
servance of the seventh day. God gave the sun to 
rule the day. At noon (an easily ascertained point 
of time) the twenty-four hours day is three-fourths 



110 THE SABBATH. 

past. The seventh day, governed by the sun, which 
is God's time-keeper, comes in Palestine six or seven 
hours sooner than in New York. It can be kept 
there when it comes along, so can it here." We 
reply to this : We can, of course, begin the day 
when the sun comes along. All do this. But the 
question is, which day is Sabbath time according to 
the Sabbatarian succession ? According to this no- 
tion, the twenty-four hours day, beginning where 
the sun first shined, is to be gradually later as we 
go westward round the earth. Beginning .at the 
place where the sun's western rays first shined, and 
going one-fourth round the earth, the day begins 
six hours later, and one-half round, twelve hours 
later ; and as the sun always shines on one-half of 
this globe, its westerly rays now arrive where its 
eastern rays left twelve hours before. This forms a 
line of division north and south, on the east side of 
which it was only the first day, when it was the sec- 
ond day on the west side ; as when the sun passed 
this line, it went over ground it had before shined 
upon. Hence, as the sun was twelve hours in pass- 
ing this place, for this period it was only the sixth 
day on the east side of this line, when it was the 
seventh day on the west side of it. Hence, if we 
must be on the uninterrupted course of seventh 
days from the first one, and each place must begin 
its count from the first seventh day at its own place) 



THE SABBATH. Ill 

making the Sabbath gradually later as "the sun 
comes along," this division line still continues, on 
the west side of which the Sabbath is a day later 
than on the other side. And as this line may pass 
through country, villages, and cities, and over the 
ocean, it must make bad divisions among Sabbata- 
rians, if its place can be known ! And if we cannot 
know its longitude, how can we know which side of 
the line we are living, or how near we are to it ? 
And then how can we know if our Sabbath is not 
a day too fast or a day too slow, even could we be 
sure the day for sacred rest was not changed before 
the time of Christ ? It is one thing to begin the 
Sabbath when the sun comes along, and quite an- 
other thing to know on what day to begin it. No 
Sabbatarian can make out his reckoning for his Sab- 
bath until he can find the longitude of this division 
line. 

Suppose the days and nights of a length, and the 
day ending at sunset. If you were to start west- 
ward on Sabbath morning, and go as fast as the sun 
rises, it would appear to you to stand still ; but to 
the people all along your way it would be sunrising. 
At the end of twelve hours you would arrive at the 
place where the Sabbath ended twelve hours before. 
And stopping on the east side of this line, you would 
have twelve hours more of Sabbath time before sun- 
set. And as a Sabbatarian, you would be obligated 



112 THE SABBATH. 

to keep the Sabbath one day later when on the east 
side of this line, than when on its west side ; a^d 
reckoning from creation, the people must end their 
weeks twelve hours later on one side of this line 
than on the other — making anight between the 
daylight of the two Sabbaths, which would come 
together on this line. 

But as this plan of Sabbath succession is imprac- 
ticable, and no sensible man would think of adopt- 
ing it, suppose we take the ground that each person 
is to keep the day which is, to himself, on the unin- 
terrupted succession of weeks from the first Sabbath, 
let him go where he may round the earth ; allow- 
ing — what is impossible to know — that he is on 
the true count of weeks from the creation, to begin 
with ; how will this plan work, supposing all men 
now Sabbatarians? 

Two companies leave for a voyage round the 
world, one going east and the other west. They 
meet on the opposite side of the earth, and finding 
one night between their days of sacred rest, they 
cannot keep Sabbath together ; and each continuing 
their voyage, they arrive at home, when they find 
two nights between their Sabbath days. The one 
that sailed east is now keeping Friday as holy time 
(they are sixth-day people), and the one that sailed 
west is now keeping Sunday as Sabbath time (they 
are now first-day people), while the people of the 



THE SABBATH. 113 

place are keeping Saturday as Sabbath. There are 
now three Sabbaths in this place, and yet each party 
is on its own succession ! And there are two Sab- 
baths in each family to which any of the returned 
voyagers belong. And if a man cannot change his 
Sabbath time, they must remain thus so long as all 
stay in this place. This is true Sabbatarianism. 
But these companies, each leaving apart of its crew 
behind, go a second voyage, each in the same direc- 
tion as before, and on their return home one will be 
keeping Monday and the other Thursday as holy 
time ; and by sailing a third voyage, each in the 
same direction, and each leaving a .portion of its 
crew who sailed with them the other two voyages? 
on their return one would be keeping Tuesday, and 
the other Wednesday, as Sabbath time. And thus, 
in this place, the whole week would be holy time, 
and yet every day a working day ! Seven seventh- 
day Sabbaths in each week, and all on the Sabbata- 
rian succession ! Now, which of these Sabbaths is 
"the day the Lord blessed"? If a Sabbatarian 
sails round the earth, he cannot, after this, keep his 
Sabbath time with his family, unless he goes a sec- 
ond voyage round the globe in the opposite direc- 
tion, to bring himself back to his old time. 

So that whether we assert that Sabbath time is 
fixed gradually later as we go westward, being de- 
termined by the first sunlight that passed round the 



114 THE SABBATH. 

world, or maintain that each person must keep his 
own reckoning, as he goes east or west, on either 
plan Sabbatarianism is beset with unanswerable ob- 
jections ; and if its principles were carried out, it 
would destroy the Sabbath. The doctrine is as evi- 
dently untrue, as it is true that the ten command- 
ments are obligatory on man, and that the earth is 
round, and that people travel and emigrate east and 
west round the world, marrying and intermarrying 
with individuals and families whose Sabbaths wo aid 
differ, and thus make the Sabbath an evil, instead 
of a blessing to society ! As God is the author of 
both the Sabbath law and the laws of nature, these 
laws must harmonize ; and hence Sabbatarianism is 
untrue. This is demonstration. 

But by the rational distinction between the Sab- 
bath institution, and the time of its observance, we 
avoid all these difficulties ; and the laws of G-od ap- 
pear in harmony. Sabbath time is later as we go 
westward, and earlier as we go eastward. But 
when travelers from the east meet those from the 
west, they may keep Sabbath together. Two com- 
panies emigrating to an island on the opposite side 
of the earth, and coming to H in opposite directions, 
finding a night between their Sabbaths, may keep 
Sabbath on the same day, without giving up the in- 
stitution. Yea, they are bound so to do; as by< 
keeping up two Sabbaths, and mixing together in 



THE SABBATH. 115 

business, schools, and family interests, the Sabbath 
would, otherwise, soon be destroyed. Two ships' 
companies, having sailed round the world, in oppo- 
site directions, on arriving at home, and finding two 
nights between their Sabbaths, are now obligated to 
leave, each their own time, and keep the institution 
with their families and the people of the place. 

But we are told that the argument from the laws 
of nature, against the doctrine of an unbroken suc- 
cession of seventh-day Sabbaths, from the creation, 
is equally against the Christian Sabbath. But if 
this was true, it would prove the Bible untrue ; as 
the Scriptures do teach the appointment and con- 
tinued obligation of the Sabbath. But we have 
shown the distinction to be made between the insti- 
tution, and the time upon which it is kept. And we 
have abundantly proved that, as an institution, it 
may have been a number of times changed on to 
new successions of weeks; and that its day was 
most certainly changed at the beginning of the gos- 
pel age ; and that, too, without affecting its origi- 
nal designs. The Sabbath is unchangeably the same, 
through all dispensations, and in all its changes 
on time ; only its value and importance are in- 
creased, as it has been made to serve additional pur- 
poses, as a commemorative institution, by its con- 
nection with the additional revelations of advancing 
ages. And its great glorification, in this respect, 



116 THE SABBATH. 

was its Christianization ! harmonizing it with Chris- 
tian worship. It has thus become a day of vast im- 
portance to Christianity, and of unbounded inter- 
est to its devoted observers ! And it now waits to 
be honored by men, in accordance with its noble de- 
signs ; when all shall worship the true G-od, through 
Christ ! 

With the distinction we have made, the Sabbath 
is not affected by its time, on one side of the earth, 
being one half off its time on the other side of the 
earth. It is the same institution, answering the 
same purposes. And the laws of nature oppose no 
obstacle in the way of its scriptural observance. 
The variations of time are the Divine arrangements, 
existing from the beginning, and known to th<a 
parties concerned when the Sabbath was given to 
man. Consequently, to conform to them, cannot be 
a violation of the Sabbath law, any more than 
are works of mercy, or even of piety, on the Sab- 
bath. And as the Lord himself fixed the shape of 
the earth, and arranged the days and nights, with 
their variations, north and south, before appointing 
the Sabbath, the command to keep the Sabbath 
implies the duty of conforming its time to His laws 
in nature. And then, the Lord has so separated 
the inhabitants of the world, by oceans, continents, 
and islands, that there is no difficulty in the plan we 
advocate. All men may keep the institution ; and 



THE SABBATH. 117 

on the same time, with the exceptions mentioned. 
And these exceptions do not affect the Sabbath as 
an institution ; and hence, neither do they lessen our 
obligation to keep the fourth commandment. A 
conformity to the Divine arrangements, for the pur- 
pose of carrying out the designs of His own institu- 
tion, can be no violation of its rules. This view of 
the subject is plain common sense. And hence 
there is no difficulty in this subject in going north 
and south. If man could live in regions where the 
Sabbath could not be kept, it would not there be 
obligatory. But as far as man can live up these 
latitudes, the reckoning of weeks can be kept, and 
the twenty-four hours day distinguished. And be- 
yond this it is evident that the Lord does not design 
that man shall fix his residence. 

And has not God borne ample testimony that He 
approves of the seventh-day Sabbath institution on 
the first day of the week ? that this is the day the 
Lord of the Sabbath has blessed and hallowed? 
Has not the Divine blessing upon the services of 
this day been productive of an infinite amount of 
good, to the church, and to the Christianized nations? 
The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, and the 
Spirit of truth, — first given, in its gospel influences, 
on the first day of the week, — has abundantly ap- 
proved of the Christianization of the Sabbath, by 
continuing its gracious influences with the Sabbath 



118 THE SABBATH. 

worshiping assemblies ; to " reprove of sin, of 
righteousness, and of judgment ;" and to comfort 
true believers. If the church is really off the 
fourth commandment, — are Sabbath-breakers, — 
have so greatly " offended in one point," or command- 
meat, — how is it that in this continued violation of 
the moral law, so much good has been done ? and 
on this day, — while Saturday is devoted to work ? 
The Spirit of God has sealed the first day of the 
week as Sabbath time. Christ has approved of it 
as commemorative of His resurrection, and His gift 
of the Spirit ! 

Very few persons realize the great amount of in- 
struction given, and the extent of the moral restraints 
thrown over the great mass of mind, and the encour- 
agements given to the well disposed, of all ages — 
directly and indirectly — by the amount of talents 
and the variety of means used upon the Sabbath, as 
connected with Christianity, especially its influence 
in forming the minds of the rising generation. What 
would be the condition of our country fifty years 
from now, if the Christian Sabbath were now repeal- 
ed ? And where would the Christian church be ? 
But, judging from the past, we may confidently af- 
firm that, if all the church would celebrate this in- 
stitution in perfect agreement with its Christian 
claims, and all their members give it their support, 
by conforming to its rules, it would not only gath- 



THE SABBATH. 119 

er increasing strength for good, but Christianity 
would soon have a depth in the hearts of the people, 
and acquire an extent over the world, it has never 
yet known. There is a mighty influence in the 
Christian Sabbath, when correcJy understood and 
suitably sustained by the mass of the people. Its 
variety of influences as ho ] y time, and its numerous 
moral, religious, and spiritual agencies, if encourag- 
ed by all who professedly feel an interest in its mer- 
ciful and its noble designs, would soon realize to us 
the answer of that prayer which the church has 
been repeating (with too little success) the past 
eighteen hundred years, — " Thy kingdom come, 
Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven." All 
persons who respect the Sabbath as a Christianized 
institution, and are suitably mindful of its grand de- 
signs, scripturally observing the day, — are uniting 
their faith and works in support of the numerous 
and great agencies designed by Heaven to hasten 
on the triumphant reign of the kingdom of God over 
the earth. It is high time that the armies of the 
world's Redeemer renew their efforts, in the great 
campaign for the enthronement of Christ, as the 
rightful King of the world ! Too many of His pro- 
fessed soldiers are sleeping at their posts. Or, what 
is worse, — to a greater or less extent, giving their 
influence on the side of His enemies. While the 
professed friends of Christ are multiplying, and open- 



120 THE SABBATH. 

ings for new victories to the Cross are increasing, 
and facilities for carrying on the work are abound- 
ing, the friends of the living God should be fully 
awake to the subject of giving the world to the reign 
of Christ ; availing themselves of the present fav- 
orable opportunity to give permanent success to a 
work involving the present happiness, and the future 
destiny, of millions of our race ! And the Christian 
Sabbaths are the great rallying points where the 
soldiers of Christ assemble, to be disciplined for their 
work, by the " Captain of their salvation." The Son 
of man is Lord of the Sabbath. 

AT WHAT HOUR DOES SABBATH-TIME BEGIN ? 

Those who suppose this to be a matter of little 
importance have mistaken the amount of interest 
connected with this subject; as we shall see. And 
this being a disputed point, let us leisurely examine 
the question. It is more generally supposed that 
Sabbath time begins at midnight. Not a few begin 
their Sabbath at sunset. And some, at six o'clock. 
But it is probable that in a majority of minds, the 
question, — Which of these is the right one ? is quite 
unsettled. In families, and in neighborhoods, where 
there are differences of opinion on this point, and 
also of practice, it embarrasses the religious inter- 
ests. It is also against business affairs. And we 
have seen no writer who investigates this subject, 



THE SABBATH. 121 

notwithstanding its great importance. The follow- 
ing facts and arguments will give us light. 

It has been urged that the evening must belong 
to the first part of the day, because, in the account 
of the creation, it is said, at the close of each day, 
the evening and the morning were the first, sec- 
ond, third day, &c, — mentioning the evening first, 
and the morning last. But it is sufficient answer 
to this, that in numerous other texts, the morning is 
put before the evening. See specimen texts in 1 
Kin^s xvii. 6 ; 1 Chron. xvi. 40 ; Ezra iii. 3 ; Ps. 

O 7 7 ■. 7 

xc. 6. And other texts which we may quote. 
This statement, made at the end of the account of 
each day's work in the creation, is evidently design- 
ed to inform us that the days were distinctly mark- 
ed off, and were of equal length, as in the days of 
Moses. And the Bible frequently mentions events 
out of their chronological order. And besides, ac- 
cording to this argument, if the twenty -four hours 
day begins with the evening, it must end with the 
morning ! How many will contend for this ? For 
the account in Genesis, chap, first, as much proves 
that the day ends with the morning, as it does that 
it begins with the evening. 

Bat Lev. xxiii. 32, is quoted to prove that the 
Sabbath begins on Saturday evening. This text 
says, " It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and 
ye shall affiict your souls ; in the ninth day of the 
month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celo- 



122 THE SABBATH. 

brate your Sabbaths." It is a very singular over- 
sight in those who quote this text as having any ref- 
erence to, or being any rule for the seventh-day 
Sabbath. A number of the days of the Jewish 
celebrations are called Sabbaths, or rest days, be- 
cause " no servile work" was done on those days. 
And this Sabbath was on " the tenth day of the 
seventh month ;" and " a day of atonement ;" and 
a day in which " to afflict their souls." But if this 
text is any rule for the seventh-day Sabbath, it 
proves that it does not begin on Saturday evening ; 
as this Sabbath began on the ninth-day evening, 
and extended to the tenth-day evening. So that 
this celebration included a part of two days ; the 
preparation was on the evening of the ninth ; and 
the tenth was " a day of atonement, — holy convo- 
cation." This proves that the evening following 
the ninth day belongs to the ninth; and not to 
the tenth day. And that the evening after the 
sixth day, belongs to the sixth ; and not to the sev- 
enth day. The preparation for this Sabbath was on 
the evening of the previous day ; just as the evening 
of the previous day should with us be preparation 
time for the Sabbath. 

And Neh. xiii. 19, is said to prove that the Sab- 
bath begins with the evening. It reads thus, — 
" "When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark 
before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates 
should be shut, and charged that they should not be 



THE SABBATH. 123 

opened till after the Sabbath." But this text also 
proves the opposite of what it is quoted to sustain. 
For if it began to be dark before the Sabbath, sa- 
cred time could not have commenced at sunset. 
This is plain. Hence it must have began at mid- 
night. The text does not intimate that the sixth- 
day evening was sacred time. The gates were clos- 
ed on the previous evening, and not opened till after 
the Sabbath ; that the merchants and sellers of all 
kinds of ware, lodging without Jerusalem, might 
leave, and no burdens be brought into the city on 
the Sabbath. 

And Ezek. xlvi. 1, 2, is quoted to prove that the 
Sabbath ends when the evening begins. This text, 
with its context, teaches that one particular gate, 
which was to remain " shut the six working days," 
was to be opened on the Sabbath and on the new 
moons ; and a person called a prince, or chief mag- 
istrate, was to " enter by the way of the porch of 
that gate without, and stand by the post of the gate, 
while the priest should prepare his offerings ; and 
when these services were ended, he was to go forth ; 
and this gate was not to be shut until evening. But 
this text says nothing of the close of Sabbath time. 

Luke xxiii. 54, is said to teach that the sixth-day 
evening is Sabbath time. " And that day was the 
preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. The evi- 
dent meaning of this is, that the time for working 
days' business w T as about closing, and the next day 



124 THE SABBATH. 

was the Sabbath. The time here mentioned was 
after the crucifixion, and in that evening immediate- 
ly preceding sunset. This was on Friday ; and the 
next day was not only the seventh-day Sabbath, 
but also the first of the seven days of unleavened 
bread, in the annual Passover. This day was call- 
ed a Sabbath, and was a day for which great prep- 
arations were made. Sometime after the death of 
Christ, Joseph went to Pilate, and obtained leave to 
take the body of Christ. He, after this, went and 
bought fine linen for His winding sheet ; then went 
and took the body from the cross, and wrapped it 
in the linen. After which they carried it away and 
placed it in the tomb. And the women having gone 
and observed where the body was laid, then went 
and prepared spices and ointments, to embalm the 
body. All this being done after three o'clock, it 
must have been considerable after sunset. But aft- 
er all this, the women " rested on the Sabbath day 
according to the commandment." It is not very 
probable that they began their Sabbath at sunset. 
" And now when the even was come (because it 
was the preparation, that is, the day before the Sab- 
bath), Joseph of Arimathea went in boldly unto 
Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus." There is 
not a text in the Bible that teaches, or intimates, 
that the seventh-day Sabbath time begins with the 
evening. The Scriptures appear to speak of the 
evening previous as preparation time for sacred 



THE SABBATH. 125 

hours. But they never mention it as Sabbath time. 
The Scriptures speak of the evening proper at the 
close of each day, and as beginning at sunset. And 
it is referred to in an easy and familiar way as the 
well understood time. You will see this by read- 
ing such texts as Deut. xvi. 6, and ch. xxiii. 11. 
Mark i. 32. Lev. xxii. 6, 7. And hence the time 
designated in Matt, by the words, " When the even 
was come," is in Luke intended by the words, 
" Now when the sun was setting." Matt viii. 14-16, 
with Luke iv. 38-40. Hence, when the evening is 
mentioned, it is to be thus understood, unless when 
there is something in the connection to give it a dif- 
ferent meaning. Commentators tell us that from 
sunrise to noon was called morning, and from mid- 
day to sunset was called evening. If the Sabbath 
begins with the evening, this w T ould make it com- 
mence at noon. But this is not contended for. 
They also tell us that the Jews had three evenings 
beginning at three o'clock, at six, and at sunset. 
Some tell us they had two evenings. And writers 
generally say that the Jews, in the time of Christ, 
began their Sabbath at sunset. And it is quite 
likely that they had converted what was only pre- 
paratory time into Sabbath time, as they made a 
great many awkward mistakes. But the practices 
of the Jews, at that time, are not safe guides for us. 
And we suppose that no one will contend that the 
twenty-four hours day both begins and ends with 



126 THE SABBATH. 

an evening, — that is, that the day has an evening 
on each end of it. And if not, it begins with the 
morning, for who ever believed the morning to be 
in the afternoon ? So certain is it that the day does 
not begin at sunsetting. 

But it is urged that the seventh-day Sabbath must 
begin on the previous evening, because the Jewish 
feasts, sometimes called Sabbaths, usually began 
thus. But, in relation to these, it is explained that 
the evening on which their day began, or rather 
their preparation, belonged to the day which pre- 
ceded that evening, and not to the day after. "We 
have proved this of the Sabbath mentioned in Lev. 
xxiii. 27-82. And in this chapter it is said, " In the 
fourteenth day of the first month, at even is the 
Lord's Passover. . And on the fifteenth day of the 
same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto 
the Lord : seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. 
In the first day ye shall have a holy convocation : 
ye shall do no servile work therein," That is, the 
fifteenth day, the first of the seven days of unleav- 
ened bread, was to be a Sabbath, or rest-day. It 
is certain that the Passover day and the feast day, 
or Sabbath, here mentioned, were not on the same 
day. The feast was on the fifteenth, and the Pass- 
over on the fourteenth, and yet the Passover lamb 
was killed " at even." Or as in Exodus xii. 6, " In 
the evening." And they " eat the flesh in the night.' 
Or as in Deut. xvi. 6, " Thou shalt sacrifice the 



THE SABBATH. 127 

Passover at even, at the going down of the sun." 
The sentence in Ex. xii. 6, " in the evening," is, in the 
margin of the large Bibles rendered, " between the 
evenings," that is, at sunset. The Passover lamb 
was killed in the evening, and the services extended 
into the night, and yet the Passover services were 
on the fourteenth day. Consequently the dividing 
line between the two days is not at sunset, but at 
midnight. This is plain. 

This controversy is decided by the rational an- 
swer to the question, To which end of the twenty- 
four hours day does the morning belong ? and to 
which the evening ? If we divide the dav into two 
parts, morning and evening, it is certainly most 
proper to call that part of it from midnight to mid- 
day — when the sun is coming towards us — the 
morning. And that portion of it from midday to 
midnight — when the sun is going from us — the 
evening. This is natural. Any other division is 
unnatural. And while no text of Scripture repre- 
sents the day as beginning with the evening, numer- 
ous texts represent that the morning is on the first 
part of the day, and the evening on the last end. 
" When it is evening ye say, it will be fair weather, 
for the sky is red. And in the morning, it will be 
foul weather to-day, for the sky is red and lower- 
ing." The evening here referred to is after sunset, 
and the morning before sunrise, as these are the 
times when the red mostly appears. Hence, the 
midnight must divide the days. " Now when the 



128 THE SABBATH. 

even tide was come, he went out to Bethany with 
the twelve, 'and on the morrow, when they came 
from Bethany, he hungered. And they laid hold 
on them," — the Apostles, — " and put them in hold 
unto the next day, for it was even tide." St. Paul 
appointed a day, and " there came many unto him 
into his lodgings, to whom he expounded and testi- 
fied the kingdom of God, from morning till even- 
ing." Jethro said to Moses, " Why sittest thou thy- 
self, and all the people stand by thee from morning 
till evening ? " It was said of the Passover, " Nei- 
ther shall there anything of the flesh which thou sac- 
rificest the first day at even, remain all night until 
morning." And Solomon determined " to build a 
house to the name of the Lord, for the burnt offer- 
ings morning and evening." The natural sense of 
numerous texts of Scripture establish the fact that 
the day always begins with the morning and ends 
with the evening. In the account of the trial be- 
tween Elijah and the prophets of Baal, 1 Kings, 
chapter eighteen, the middle of the day is fixed at 
noon, the morning on the first part of the day, and 
the evening on the last part. Hence, noon being 
the middle of the day, the morning on the first part, 
and the evening on the last end, the twenty-four 
hours day must begin at midnight. The false prophets 
" called on the name of Baal from morning even until 
noon." " And it came to pass at noon that Elijah 
mocked them, and said, Cry aloud." " And when 
midday was past, and they prophesied until the offer' 



THE SABBATH. 129 

ing of the evening sacrifice." The morning is never 
mentioned on the last part of the day. The even- 
ing is always on the last end. Midnight is between 
the two days. The Bible never intimates that the 
morning is in the middle of the twenty-four hours 
day, with an evening at each end of it, as would be 
the case if the day began with the evening. 

Christ rose from the dead u upon the first day of 
the week, very early in the morning." Luke xxiv. 1. 
At what hour we do not know, as no one saw him 
rise, except the angel, or angels, who were present. 
He was risen when the sepulcher was first visited 
in the morning. The Eoman guard witnessed the 
presence of the angel at the tomb of Christ who 
rolled away the stone, whose a countenance was 
like lightning and his raiment white as snow. And 
for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became 
as dead men." And of course they did not see 
Christ rise, though all must have heard the great 
earthquake. Mary Magdalene first visited the sep- 
ulcher, " early, when it was yet dark ; " and ran and 
informed Peter and John that Christ was missing 
from the tomb. John xx. 1, 2. And the " other 
Mary" came "to see the sepulcher," with Mary 
Magdalene on her return, " as it began to dawn." 
Matt, xxviii. 1. And " at the rising of the sun" a 
company of women visited the tomb with the Marys, 
and took with them spices w T hich they had prepared. 
Mark xvi. 1, 2. Luke xxiv. 1. Christ first appear- 
ed to Mary Magdalene. Mark xvi. 9. But this 

6* 



130 THE SABBATH. 

was not on her first visit to the sepulcher. John 
xx. 1-3. It appears to have been on her second 
visit. John xx. 10-18. Christ appeared to other 
women, who went and informed his disciples that he 
had risen. Matt, xxviii. 5-10. This was surely a 
busy morning, of great excitement with Christ's dis- 
ciples, mixed with fears, and joys, and hopes, visit- 
ing and re-visiting the place of their Master's burial, 
some of them seeing him and running to inform 
others, not knowing what would yet be the result. 
Now, as Christ rose early in the morning, before 
light, the day could not have begun at sunrise. And 
as we have amply proved that each evening is on 
the last part of its own day, and extends after sun- 
set, the dividing line between the two days is neces- 
sarily at midnight. 

And as the Christian seventh-day Sabbath is ob- 
served on the time called the first day of the week, 
that it may celebrate the resurrection of Christ, the 
gift of the Holy Ghost, and the laying of the found- 
ation of the Gospel church — the breaking up of 
the old church forms and the appointment of the 
new sacraments - — it seems very improper to com- 
mence Sabbath time on the day previous to that 
on which these events took place. There is an un- 
reasonableness in beginning the religious observ- 
ance of the Savior's Christianized, commemorative 
Sabbath-day before the day begins, and ending it 
before the day closes. It is not improbable that the 
angel whose countenance was like lightning, and 



THE SABBATH. 131 

his raiment white as snow, appeared at midnight, 
and by his presence illuminated the region round 
the tomb of Christ ; that He who is " the light of 
the world, 7 ' at that time demonstrated, by rising 
from the dead, that " in him was life, and the life 
was the light of men." And it is not improbable, 
that at midnight, at the place of his crucifixion and 
his resurrection, the bridegroom will a second time 
appear without a sin-offering unto salvation to them 
that look for him ; that at that hour, " The Lord 
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, 
with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump 
of God, in naming fire, taking vengeance on them 
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel 
of our Lord Jesus Christ;" to judge men accord- 
ing to the improvement or misimprovement they 
have made of his Gospel and its institutions, for the 
commemoration and celebration of which he has 
given us his holy Sabbath. " The Son of man is 
Lord also of the Sabbath day." 

Here is another argument. From their great 
anxiety as to the fate of their Master, it seems nat- 
ural, and is quite certain, that the disciples visited 
his sepulcher as soon as possible ; and could they 
have visited it the next day after his burial, they 
would have done so. Had the Sabbath ended at 
sunset they could have easily done this. But they 
did not. And as they had made preparation's for 
the anointing of the body, it was absolutely necessa- 
ry, for aught they knew to the contrary, that this 



132 THE SABBATH. 

should be done as soon as possible. Christ had been 
dead twenty-seven hours at sunset, if the sun set at 
six o'clock, and at sunrise next day thirty-nine 
hours. Hence, nothing but the fact that it was, 
with them, Sabbath time, could have prevented 
them from visiting the place of Christ's burial on 
Saturday evening, then Sabbath time, to look after 
his body, if they had not anointed him. They evi- 
dently went to the tomb as soon as Sabbath time 
would allow them to do so, as they were at the sep- 
ulcher the next morning and while it was yet dark, 
having " prepared spices and ointments, and rested 
the Sabbath day, according to the commandment. 
Now the first day of the week, very early in the 
morning, they came unto the sepulcher, bringing 
the spices Hvhich they had prepared, and certain 
others with them." It is plain that Christ had taught 
his disciples that the evening at the close of the 
day belonged to the Sabbath, that Sabbath evening 
is Sabbath evening. 

Matthew says, " In the end of the Sabbath, as it 
began to dawn towards the first day of the week, 
came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see 
the sepulcher." This would seem to make the day 
begin at sunrise. And this would certainly be a 
much more suitable time than at sunset. But it is 
evident that the word day is here used in opposition 
to night. And a learned commentator renders the 
sentence, — " In the end of the Sabbath," as follows, 
— "After the end of the w T eek." And he tells us* 



THE SABBATH. 133 

" This is the translation given by several eminent 
critics." And he supports his opinion from " the 
most eminent Greek writers." And this is the more 
probable from the fact, that, in the Old Testament, 
the word Sabbath is used to signify weeks ; because 
the Sabbath measures off the weeks. So Matthew 
would be understood to say, that the visit of the two 
Marys to the sepulcher was after the past w T eek 
had ended, and it began to dawn towards the first 
daylight of the next week, reckoning the weeks 
as counted when Christ rose from the dead. 

From the scripture arguments, it is abundantly 
evident that the morning proper is on the first end 
of the twenty-four hours day, and the evening at 
the end of the Sabbath is sacred time, and to be 
exempted from secular employments. 

And the arguments we have given in defense of 
Sabbath evening as sacred time, are fully sustained 
by the reasonableness and fitness of the doctrine ar- 
gued. Everybody sees this. When it is said, I 
shall see Mr. B. on Monday evening, on Thursday 
evening, and on Saturday evening, who under- 
stands the times mentioned to be on the evenings 
before the days named ? No one. But if the twen- 
ty-four hours day begins at sunset, Saturday even- 
ing begins at the sunset of Friday. And we speak 
very improperly when we call the time Saturday 
evening, which follows the sunset of Saturday. 
This would be Sabbath evening, if the evening is on 
the first end of the day. When it is given out, — 



134 THE SABBATH. 

There will be a religious meeting on Sabbath even- 
ing, — who ever understood the time intended to be 
on the first end of the day ? This, indeed, is too 
unnatural for common use. Let those who think 
otherwise, call their evenings by their right names. 

ITS REASONABLENESS. 

That the Sabbath should have its own evening, at 
the end of the day, is more suitable, because much 
more convenient and conducive to good. Not only 
because the Sunday services prepare the minds of 
the people the better to enjoy and to profit by the 
evening worship, — but the mass of the people can 
much more conveniently, and will far more readily, 
attend religious meetings on this than on the even- 
ing before. Everybody sees this. And again, to 
separate the business time of working days from 
Sabbath time, at sunset, is unnatural. There is an 
unfitness in it. To begin the time for Sabbath ser- 
vices tw T o, or three, or more hours before bedtime, 
on Saturday evening, — and thus separate the act- 
ing part ef the Sabbath time by a night's sleep, — 
and before the acting part of the next day is gone, 
to permit work and business anxieties to rush upon 
us, is not only an unnatural division, but it conflicts 
with the designs of holy time. This cannot be the 
Divine arrangement ! But to begin the day at mid- 
night is a natural division. Sacred time is not in- 
terrupted by business interests. It is natural, as 
from noon to this time, the sun is going from us ; 



THE SABBATH. 135 

but from this point, it is coming towards us. Al- 
though some particular portions of the day may be 
denominated morning, or evening, ; yet it is more 
natural to call that half, the morning, in which the 
sun is rising towards us ; and to denominate that 
half, the evening of the twenty-four hours day, in 
which the sun is receding from us, or is going down. 

And furthermore, Saturday evening is necessary 
as preparation time for the Sabbath ; that we may 
have business and worldly cares fairly off our hands 
and our hearts ; and so adjust the family concerns 
that the whole of sacred time may be devoted to its 
great designs ; and we profit by it. Persons who 
make no preparation on the previous evening, de- 
prive themselves, and their families, in a very great 
degree, of the advantages of holy time. Not a few 
religious families are accustomed to so crowd work- 
ing days 7 interests on to each end of Sabbath time, 
as to so perplex the day, they never know the pleas 
ures and the high advantages of an undisturbed; 
hallowed rest day. 

And the Sabbath should have its own evening, 
as this is much less likely to be disturbed by the 
noise and stir of worldly business than is Saturday 
evening. Even could all be convinced that Satur- 
day evening is Sabbath time, it would be very diffi- 
cult to induce the mass of the people to suddenly 
break off from all business that conflicts with sacred 
time ; and that in sufficient season to be ready for 
hallowed time at sunset. Certainly much more dif- 



136 THE SABBATH. 

ficult than to persuade the people to be ready to ob- 
serve Sabbath evening. And in not a few instances, 
as much good moral influence is thrown over the 
people, and as much benefit derived to the church, 
by the devotions of the Sabbath evening social meet- 
ings, as by the day's previous instructions. And, 
indeed, the evening worship seems necessary to se- 
cure the advantages gained during the day. And, 
in a large part of the year, the social meetings are 
necessarily after sunset. And it is necessary that 
the people should feel the Sabbath evening to be 
sacred time, — - to prevent business, visiting, and 
worldly conversation destroying the influence of re- 
ligious meetings, — - erasing the instructions of the 
day from the memory, and removing serious impres- 
sions from the minds of the people. And it adds 
greatly to our enjoyment of the Sabbath, to have 
Saturday evening as preparation time for our relig- 
ious rest. And the designs of the Sabbath natural- 
ly suggest this. 

And how few who work on Sabbath evening, keep 
the previous evening as holy time. If not regular- 
ly at work, the time is spent in settling up working 
days' business, in visiting, or in conversing about 
secular affairs ; or in doing something inconsistent 
with sacred hours. And at best, with few excep- 
tions, it is no more than preparatory time for the 
next day, with those who call it Sabbath time. 
Such persons usually lap their business days over 
on to each end of the Sabbath, so that it is difficult 



THE SABBATH. 137 

to tell where the one begins, or the other ends. 
Their Saturday intrudes upon their Sabbath ; and 
their Sabbath evening work usually occupies their 
minds, and not unfrequently their conversation, and 
sometimes their hands, and their feet, too, in travel- 
ing to their work, before sunset, to say nothing 
of their interruption of others, in their Sabbath priv- 
ileges. Mill establishments that work on Sabbath 
evenings do immense mischief to the morals of so- 
ciety, by causing great numbers to travel to their 
work on the Sabbath, and employing others to car- 
ry them, and often doing work of repairs on the 
Sabbath. These examples and influences of Sab- 
bath violations and neglects divert the attention of 
very many from religious meetings, create looseness 
of moral principles in thousands of the youth, and 
in not a few of the older persons. That Sunday 
evening is not Sabbath time, is a very convenient 
doctrine for persons who wish to occupy this time 
to u lay up treasures on earth," or to enjoy worldly 
pleasures in a worldly way. 

And add to all this, the looseness of sentiment 
and of feeling created in the minds of thousands, 
in relation to the obligation and sacredness of Sab- 
bath time, by these conflicting sentiments and prac- 
tices', among the professed advocates of the Sabbath. 
Surely no previous practice, prejudice, party feel- 
ing, or money interests should bias our judgment, 
or prevent our having an " ear to hear," on this vast- 
ly important subject ! A subject inseparably con- 



138 THE SABBATH. 

nected with the moral and religious training of mil .- 
ions of the rising generation, — with the real suc- 
cess of the church, — and with a nation's weal or 
woe ! 

And when we break in upon the stillness which 
properly belongs to sacred time, by having working 
days' business around us, we remove from the minds 
of the people those feelings of sacred regard for 
holy time which give to the Sabbath a large 'share 
of its moral and religious influence, and its restraints 
over society ; feelings which God designed to pro- 
duce in us, by the sacredness which Himself has 
attached to the time of our observing this seventh- 
day institution. It is this respect for the Sabbath, 
as holy time, that tends to restrain us from worldli- 
ness on this day ; and to make us more especially 
feel that the eye of God is upon us ; that we are 
a little nearer the spirit world; and, as a church, 
nearer heaven, than on the days devoted to tempor- 
al interests — worldly business. On this day, hav- 
ing less of worldly influences around us, and more 
of the heavenly agencies, and a peculiar blessing, as 
a collective body, we are more especially in the Di- 
vine presence. " The Lord blessed the Sabbath 
day." Not that the time sanctifies the institution, 
as some suppose ; but the institution sanctifies the 
time. And hence the importance that, as a seventh - 
day institution, it should extend over time which is 
not so infringed upon by secular employments as to 
prevent its being sanctified to its proposed ends, — 



THE SABBATH. 139 

answering to its four great designs, — and thus hon- 
or God, and redeem man from sin to holiness. 
Hence the great advantage of Sabbath evening, over 
that of Saturday evening, as consecrated time. 

"We repeat, then, — to commence hallowed time, 
and after a few hours religiously spent, to devote 
seven or nine hours to sleep, — and then re-com- 
mence active holy time, — and again before a night's 
rest, suddenly rush into working days' business 
and cares, — appears too much like dividing the 
acting part of holy time, and too much like sep- 
arating the Sabbath from its own evening, to say 
nothing of the unnatural mixture of common with 
sacred time, by the people observing different even- 
ings, as Sabbath hours. And, indeed, how neces- 
sary, for both body and mind, that after six days' 
work and anxieties, we should have a night's re- 
freshment, to prepare us for the Sabbath services. 
And that, after the day's religious services and in- 
structions, we should enjoy a night's rest, as a pre- 
ventative against too sudden a rush of business, 
cares, anxieties, and temptations. "We see, then, 
that it is very suitable, as well as scriptural, that 
there should be a rest time between the secular ser- 
vices of the six days, and the spiritual services of 
the seventh day. This certainly looks just like be- 
ino- the Divine arrangement ! So that the observ- 
ance of Sabbath evening as holy time is not only 
in agreement with the Bible, and necessary to car- 
ry out the designs of the institution, but it is also 



140 THE SABBATH. 

the most natural division of sacred from common 
time ; while no arguments can be adduced against 
this doctrine, except such as are founded upon a 
misinterpretation of a few texts of Scripture, and 
those which are drawn from worldly interests. 
The Sabbath should not be on a 'part of two days ; 
hut on one day. And although this one day cannot 
be wholly on the same hours, all round the globe ; 
yet, as the seventh-day Sabbath, it commemor- 
ates the God of the Bible, as our Creator and Sanc- 
tifier; and as the Christianized Sabbath , it cele- 
brates Christ as our risen Redeemer, and reminds 
us of all those extraordinary events inseparably 
connected with His death, as the " one sacrifice for 
sin." And its variations on time, as we go east, or 
west, do not, in the least, affect these Sabbath de- 
signs, if we adopt the plan we have illustrated. 

There are times when we have a desire to be tru- 
ly great, — great in thoughts, — great in words. 
And it is when we feel our nothingness ; but have 
an earnest, restless desire to direct the lightning of 
truth to its object, and startle our hearers by its 
thunders, for the purpose of awakening attention 
to some subject in which we feel the people have an 
unbounded interest ! We wish, at such times, to 
speak something beyond — far beyond our natur- 
al self. But this greatness is in the character 
of the true Sabbath-keeper ; whose heart is in 
reality interested in, and whose life is identified 
with, the sublime and deeply interesting subjects to 



THE SABBATH. 141 

which this institution directs attention. Such a 
character speaks effectually — directs truth to the 
hearts of its observers. 

When we consider the Sabbath as commemora- 
tive of the living God as our Creator, and of the 
interesting, numerous, and vastly important relations 
we hold to Him, and also as prefiguring to us that 
final rest from labors, beyond which no anxiety will 
disturb, or night of darkness set in to interrupt a 
cloudless, unending day, we cannot see how any 
thinking person can fail to be interested in the divine 
Sabbath — the antitype of Heaven ! But when we 
consider that this institution proposes to lighten our 
bodies, free our heads, and release our hearts from 
one-seventh of the burdens of this life, — of which 
so many complain, — we w T onder that so kind an 
offer from Heaven can be rejected by any ! One 
would suppose that the ample proof of the necessity 
of a seventh part of our time for rest, and for the 
improvement of society, as well as for our own com- 
fort, would induce every one who wishes to make 
the most of this world, to be deeply interested in a 
Heaven-sent favor so advantageous to human life. 

But when we reflect that this Heaven- appointed 
rest-day is the foundation upon which stands all the 
institutions of the Gospel to which we are indebted 
for all the advantages enjoyed by Christian nations 
over those of idolatrous countries ; that if the Sab- 
bath was removed, these institutions would soon 
cease to effect their proposed ends ; that the sweet 



142 THE SABBATH. 

flowing streams of Gospel blessing would be dried 
up, and the channels through which they now pass 
w 7 ould be filled with putrid errors and corrupt mor- 
als; and that the means of intellectual improve- 
ment for the mass of the people could not long be 
sustained, and the light of the Gospel which now 
illuminates the country would become twilight, if 
not darkness itself, and the multitude become 
servants to the few, as in all countries where the 
Sabbath does not exist, — when we consider what 
reverses must follow a repeal of the fourth com- 
mandment, we are astonished that any one, having 
any interest in the happiness of his brother man, or 
who desires a pleasant and useful life, respects the 
Bible, or has any fear of the eternal God, or expects 
to meet in eternity the Judge of all men, — that any 
such an one can violate, or neglect, or withhold his 
support from, the key-stone of the arch of the Dec- 
alogue! Remove the fourth commandment, and 
the whole would be broken down " and trodden un- 
der foot of men ;" as the arch is easily demolished 
when the key-stone is taken out. It is a fact that 
in every country, just in proportion as there is no 
Sabbath, or the Church and State are loose in their 
views of its obligation, or lax in their efforts to 
sustain it, in agreement with its scripture designs, 
do the evils to which we have alluded, prevail ! 

It is a pleasant reflection that the Christianized 
seventh-day is the monumental institution by which 
we not only celebrate the great work of creation, 



THE SABBATH. 143 

— and the still greater work of redemption, — but 
by the observance of which, we commemorate the 
laying of the foundation of "the house of God, 
which is the Church of the living God," in its gospel 
form. It invests this institution with a vastly in- 
creased interest, that, on the first day of the week 
the Savior of the world demonstrated the truth of 
Christianity, and the fact of His Divinity, by rising 
from the dead ! And on this, probably, first Chris- 
tianized Sabbath, He proved that He had ascended 
to Heaven, by sending down the Holy Ghost ! On 
this day was the first fulfilment of the great prophetic 
promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, in its pecul- 
iar gospel influences ; and also the first gospel re- 
vival, by the aw T akening and conversion of sinners, 
in great numbers. And on this first day of the 
week, was first administered the Christian baptism, 

— "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost." On this extraordinary first 
day of the week, was the church of God re-organiz- 
ed, and the old church organization became legally 
dead! Hence, on this seventh-day Christian Sab- 
bath, held on the first day of the week, commenced 
the last dispensation of the world's probation, under 
the meridian Sun of Righteousness ! And why 
should men intercept His noonday light by artificial 
clouds of moral darkness ? 

How sinks into nothing all that is commemorated 
by human monuments to worldly fame or deeds of 
virtue, and by celebrations of victories wqu, births 



144 THE SABBATH. 

and deaths of noted men, independence gained, gov- 
ernments founded, or empires overturned, — how sink 
all these, when compared with the unspeakably inter- 
esting and infinitely momentous subjects commemor- 
ated by this seventh-day Christianized monument, 
erected by the living God, and consecrated and ded- 
icated by the Son of God, on the day of Pentecost, 
to the interests of His church, by the anoirlting of 
the Holy Ghost, accompanied by the miracles and 
events of that day ! As on the Pentecost day God 
was acknowledged as the giver of the harvest by 
the gathering in of the first fruits from the whiten- 
ing fields, and giving them to the Lord; so Christ 
on this day consecrated to God, gathered in the 
first fruits of the Gospel church from " the fields 
already white, and ready to harvest." The Chris- 
tianized Sabbath is a noble monument, well worthy 
of Him who erected it, and of the great ends it pro- 
poses ! And the Spirit of God has written upon 
this monumental institution inscriptions which show 
its origin, teach its perpetuity, and indicate its de- 



sign. 



"the sabbath of the lord thy god." 



" THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH-DAY, AND HALLOW- 
ED IT." 
"REMEMBER THE SABBATH-DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY." 
" THE SON OF MAN IS LORD ALSO OF THE SABBATH-DAY." 
" THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR MAN." 



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